Fashion Freedom For Men | How To Change The World One Dress At A Time

Anyone who reads these articles (or looks out the window occasionally) knows that there is an imbalance between fashion for men and fashion for women. Simply put, women can wear pretty things and men are left with the penguin suits and lumberjack costumes. Part of the reason for this is because society accepts a wider range of types of dress for women than it does for men, but that is largely because men have thus far been content to accept the status quo and have not really fought for more fashion equality.

It's no accident than women have more fashion freedom than men. Western women fought for their right to wear whatever they wanted. There was an incredibly uncomfortable period for quite some time where women were ridiculed for wearing pants or jeans and considered unfeminine. Now even supermodels occasionally wear a nice pair of skinny jeans. This came about because women didn't back down when people said they looked silly. They kept right on doing what they wanted to do, and eventually it was accepted as being 'normal.' (Funnily enough, some women who now enjoy the freedom that their grandmothers fought for are now trying to hold men back in the same way, but that's swings and roundabouts for you, isn't it.) The women's fashion movement came about as part of a larger women's rights movement, and it was successful.

So what can men do? They're not at the same disadvantage that women were when they launched their movement, and thus men's rights movements tend to be considered a bit of a joke. (Whether they are or not is an entirely different matter.)

Fortunately, men don't need to picket department stores, or march on Parliament. Men, you simply need to vote with your dollar. If you don't like Y fronts and straight leg jeans, don't buy them. Buy whatever you like, whether it sits in the men's section or the women's section. The imbalance in fashion production for men vs women isn't a political or social matter, it's a commercial one.

Manufacturers and stores both work for money. If men start buying clothing that has been considered feminine in the past, then you bet your behind some marketing weasel is going to start sitting up and taking notice. If men who want to wear more 'feminine' clothing buy it and wear it, people are going to take note. It won't matter whether or not society at large approves at first, it is simply a matter of economics. If enough men start buying 'women's' clothes for themselves, there will be feminine fashions for men in fairly short order.

The world is experiencing a recession right now, and more than ever before, every dollar counts. This may be the best time for men to start purchasing feminine fashions and boycotting traditional male fashions. According to some sources, this has already started happening. One of my readers posted a comment (which I now can't find, so if you can, please pop it in the comments :), linking to an article which seemed to imply that marketers and economics buffs were already noticing a trend towards men buying women's clothes.

The ball has started rolling, and whether you want to wear lingerie in private or a skirt in public, there has never been a better time to effect change in men's fashion.

Edit: As a post script to this article, if you're married or in a relationship, you might want to start taking the responsibility for buying your clothes yourself. A great proportion of men's clothing is currently purchased by women, which explains a great deal. It's not practical to complain that manufacturers aren't making the kind of clothing you want when your significant other is out there snapping it up and effectively casting your voting dollars against you.