Who's Really Wearing The Pants? TREND REPORT: Men's Hemlines

Outside of Western cultures, men's clothing commonly includes skirts or skirt-like garments; however, in North America and much of Europe, the wearing of a skirt in today's times are usually seen as typical for females and not males. Although the extended hem is most commonly viewed as feminine... is this the new trend crossing over as a unisex piece? 

History

Ancient Hebrew, Greek, and Roman men generally wore what are now considered skirts in some form of a tunic. Ancient Egyptians wore a wrap skirt, similar to sarongs. Both the Anglo-Saxons and Normans wore skirted garments, as can be seen in the Bayeux Tapestry. These fashions continued well into the Middle Ages. The garment more commonly transcended to the Scottish tradition and was widely excepted within the culture known as a kilt.

Designers

Yohji Yamamoto

If you thought this trend was all a fad, the stylish hem has graced the runway collections of Jean-Paul Gaultier, Girgio Armani, John Galliano, Kenzo, Givenchy, Rei Kawakubo, Marc Jacobs, Comme des Garcons, Rick Owens and Yohji Yamamoto. 

Rick Owens

Givenchy

Celebrities

Hollywood Heartthrob,Vin Disel confidently embraced the trend at the MTV European Music Awards

Lead singer of band Korn, Jonathan Davis, has been known to wear kilts at live shows and in music videos throughout his career of 18 years with Korn. 

Guns N' Roses' singer, Axl Rose, was known to wear men's skirts during the Use Your Illusion period.

Or so you think it's just a Rock Band thing? Well some of Rap's heavy hitters have sported the trend as well:

 Diddy spotted in a kilt and Equestrian boots in concert 

A$ASP Rocky sported a "long tee shirt" to 106 and Park

Theophilus London poses in stylish threads for Style Caster feature

Swizz Beatz instagramed a pic of himself and it seems as though his followers were receptive by approval

and who could forget Kanye's 12-12-12 performance?

So I guess the question is, "Who's really wearing the pants?"

Would you say the trend is Avant garde, unconventional, or just plain weird? I will say I'm not necessarily feeling the whole leg out and high boot style of wearing an extended garment hem (see how I cleaned that up... I dislike the whole men in skirt lingo lol) but I do like how Ye' kept it simple with a pair of leather pants and sneakers. 

I couldn't blog about it without trying it... How did I do?

Now granted, I don't expect people to jump on board and accept it, but I know there are just a hand full of guys confident enough within their masculinity who would try it. If it's not for you... that's okay... but don't kick a man when his skirt is down (lol). I don't think the next time I'm grocery shopping or go to a club I'll expect to see the majority of men having on what appears to be a skirt, but I will say I commend anyone bold enough to go against the grain to make a statement? I mean, isn't that what fashion's all about? 

If you have the itch to wear a lower stitch, check out this style guide below, have fun: 

Style Tip: If your not the risk taker, play it safe and wear a longer tee-shirt as a layering piece to create a longer hem. 

Are you man enough to embrace the trend?

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Kanye West wears a skirt for 12-12-12 concert performace

The 12-12-12 concert was filled with big names and fabulous performances. But it was Kanye West or shall I say Kanye's skirt that was the talk of the show. Ye' paired his high fashion leather kilt over his signature leather pants with a side slit Givenchy hoodie. The kilt skirt swayed back and forth as Mr. West performed hits like "Gold Digger" and "Touch the Sky". But it was twitter that continued to steal the show after Kanye's performance as his bold fashion choice shocked fans.

One twitter user quipped: "Kanye must have swapped suitcases with Kim Kardashian."

But Kanye's skirt had the last laugh when it joined Twitter and racked up over 1,000 followers by morning:

"Nothing but the finest pleather money can buy. Yeah, I'm fly," Kanye's skirt tweeted.

His girlfriend, Kim Kardashian, tweeted, "Awwwwwwww I'm so excited right now!!!!! He looks so cute!!" (We have to assume she was talking about Kanye.)

But other commenters weren't so into his leather-look kilt-like outfit.

Among the wisecracks:

- "'Wear this black trash bag as a skirt. Then, just kinda run around the stage scaring white people' - Kanye West's manager before the show"

- "Maybe a new item from the Kardashian collection?"

- "Kanye West looks like the episode when Steve Urkel became a cheerleader!!!!"

But some liked it:

"I love that @kanyewest went from pink popped collars to leggings and kilts in 10 years and he's still on top of the game," wrote one fan.

I just couldn't let this topic go and knew I had to blog about it. I commend Kanye for taking this risk however, he's not the first to rock the look. Fashion ICON and designer Marc Jacobs has been sporting the trend for years. 

Kanye's styling is a little more my taste. Urban meets high fashion. The "I just threw this on" effect. Although I don't see this trend showing up on men around the country the next day as a new Jordan release would, Kanye is definitely breaking barriers by evolving into having his own sense of style by not caring what people think (got to respect him for that). I'm not bold enough to wear a kilt, not really "my" style but I do appreciate it......it's fashion. I get it, I get it.. men aren't suppose to wear skirts but I guess I'm biased because Ye' can do no wrong in my book, the man knows what he's doing. What do you think?