Item of the Week: Jessica's Favorite

After researching fashion and costume for a project, I came across an interesting book that I am calling my favorite item in the library this summer. It is Bravehearts: Men in Skirts by Andrew Bolton. It is a collection of photographs and the history of the skirt in men’s fashion. It is one of those items which on first glance one may think, “Is this really a book about men in skirts?” This question is soon followed by, “Why does the Chrysler’s library have this?” What may seem strange, and hilarious, after some reading you are reminded boys and men have been wearing both skirts and dresses since the beginning of time.
The history begins with Egyptian sculptures and relief in which male figures wore a wrap that was an early short-style skirt. Greek vases portray men in wraps and Greek sculptures have male figures in simple dresses. The Augustus of Prima Porta (1st Century Roman statue) wears armor over a short-style dress and wrap. Many occupations held by males in history have be synonymous with tunics, ropes and wraps such as monks, priests, kings, and gentlemen of high status. Little boys during the sixteenth century wore dresses in infancy and the first couple years of their lives. It was thought to provoke “precocious sexual curiosity” in children if parents distinguished between the sexes at an early age. Men in cultures from Africa, India and South America wore wraps and waistcloths which may have been in part to climate and the need to stay cool. Gowns and robes (such as the kimono) were also an important part of a man’s wardrobe in Asian cultures as well.
After picking up this book men wearing skirts doesn’t seem strange anymore. The one skirt worn by men that may stand out the most and be widely accepted today is the kilt. In today’s pop-culture, many fashion designers, models and rocks stars have taken on the skirt in a new way, which is OK, as long as it is David Bowie or Boy George.

-Jessica Dame, Library Intern 2009