Monday, July 21, 2008

Manly Men are Fighting a Rearguard Action

Adieu to Manly MenStolen shamelessly from Downeast blog, here is the latest in haute couture from Paris. Are we being devoured from within? Yes, we are.

This poor fool doesn’t look happy about it, either. Nonetheless he was willing to parade around in that ugly skirt.

It used to be that fashion designers seemed to hate women. Now they appear to have morphed into plain old “gender” equality misanthropic idjits.

I can’t wait to see this fashion take hold in biker circles…except it would cover over all those painfully acquired tattoos, so that's out. Maybe they can wear his cute hat?

Fashion aside (it being well known that women are more apt to suffer for fashion's sake than are men) I must ask our male readers an important question regarding logistics:
- - - - - - - - -
how practical would this get up be whilst standing in front of a urinal, especially after a few pints? You guys would be literally rubbing elbows as you attempted to hold up this material with one hand, and with the other…well, you get the picture.

Could this cause problems? Could you sue the designer?

38 comments:

Anonymous said...

@Dymphna: how practical would this get up be whilst standing in front of a urinal, especially after a few pints?

Hell; If I ever found myself running around like this, i probably wouldn't even give a s... about whether I was in front of urinal or not...especially after a few pints :o)

Dymphna said...

oh. well that answers my question.
Thanks, tb.

spackle said...

Clothing design along with theatre and other cliche occupations has always been the realm (but not always) of homosexuals. In the past that wasnt a problem. Gay men used to like to dress woman as ladies and men as men/gentlemen. Once again, since that magical decade of the 60s that all changed.

Ask yourself why all the models today have zero curves and look like teenage boys? Because they are chosen by gay men.
The sad thing is that all these poor girls have been duped into thinking that thats what is attractive and that thats what men "want". And they are starving themselves into oblivion to achieve that look. And now some men are buying into the boy look as something desirable. Real men (at least the ones I know) dont like skinny girls with no curves.

Bardot, Loren, Monroe. Now those were women. Now it appears that our gay designers are trying to fool us men into wearing dresses to be hip? I dont think so!? Maybe some big city Merlot sipping, Prius driving metrosexual tools will. But the rest of us? As shallow as I consider the fashion industry to be I sometimes wonder if there is not some political motivation behind this stuff?

Félicie said...

"it being well known that women are more apt to suffer for fashion's sake than are men"

It's been changing gradually, I think. I hear that a lot of men wax their chest and back hair and other parts of their bodies these days.

Conservative Swede said...

Dymphna,

A boy like him would sit down when peeing.

There is a divine order in this universe after all...

Probably they go in two and two. And outside there is a long queue of men in skirts putting on makeup.

laine said...

Spackle's conjecture that fashion is skewed by the preferences of gay men is interesting. My mom used to say based on ugly and impractical outfits that some fashion designers seemed to hate women, and of course some gays do despise them.

Apparently there is a great deal of gay subtext in old Hollywood films as well, when actors had to be in the closet for the sake of their careers but gay writers, directors and producers had their say. Today of course, every TV show and movie has near-obligatory gay characters if not entire plot. They are always the wittiest, coolest, and/or kindest characters - no gay villains allowed.

The place I've noticed jarring gay rewrites is in performing arts such as the ballet. Even the classic Swan Lake, perhaps the greatest (doomed) romance in ballet history has been altered into incoherence by a gay choreographer who had the Prince more interested in dancing with his male friends than Odette. Thankfully, the black swan Odile was not made a man but can that twist be far behind? (no pun intended).

Skirts on men have come and gone before, previously more kilt or sarong-like and therefore still with a whiff of the masculine, associated with brawny Scotsmen or Pacific Islanders. This new version is a womanly A line. The gamine model wearing it needs all the help he can get to look male and instead has been made to look like a pre-surgery trans-sexual. Even half of gay men would never consider wearing this type of skirt.

spackle said...

Laine-

Hollywood is totally ass backwards today. We are all familiar with the old "casting couch". Today the men in power are almost all gay and the casting couch is now for men. They actually have a name for these guys. They call them "The velvet mafia". I s**t you not.
The days of the old Jewish family men are long gone.

Conservative Swede said...

C'mon Spackle, I wanna hear names!

What have we? Orlando Bloom, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Viggo Mortensen, ...?

Dymphna said...

@Felicie

I hear that a lot of men wax their chest and back hair and other parts of their bodies these days.

That has long been a common practice among some gay men, especially the young ones.

OTOH, the Baron was getting his hair cut at the local shop (run by a woman out of her home and everyone goes there to hear the latest while the dogs and kids roam in and out).

While he was there, a man in his 90's was having his hair dyed. He had to be helped with his walker to get to the sink.

I love it! Never too old to be vain enough to care what you look like.

Anonymous said...

Hrrmm

Do they make that skirt in camo?

I need new stuff for deer season.

ZZMike said...

From the Belgian paper, quoted at downeastblog:

"... outfits which, if you describe them, easily sound effeminate, but definitely aren't: shirts with little pow sleeves, slack bow ties, see-through blouses, supple suits ..."

They're evidently working with some new definition of "defenitely aren't" that we haven't seen before.

A Scotsman may wear a kilt, a Greek soldier a fustanella, but either of those guys could clean your clock if you laughed at him, and neither of those guys would be considered "the soft man".

Another aspect (you might say "agenda") is to blur the distinction between male and female. They tried it a few years back, with the "unisex" line, but that sort of petered out, so they're off trying again.

The only redeeming thing about these so-called "fashion shows" - of almost any stripe - is that no sane person ever wears any of it out in public.

That being the case, the only possible use for these shows is to get the designers' names into the public eye, so they can sell outrageously expensive clothes to people who need to be told what to wear.

Dymphna said...

TC --

Definitely no camo. You'd get your skirt caught on the briers. You'd rustle thru the underbrush and any game within half a mile would hear you.

My dear, your skirt would be in shreds. So would you day in the woods...unless you plan to sit on a tree platform. That might work.

spackle said...

Con Swede-

"C'mon Spackle, I wanna hear names!"

Okay. Frank Sinatra. Just kidding. Sorry, im not that plugged in. If I was I would be making a fortune as a gossip columnist. Although I did hear something about the star of a little film called "The Matrix". : )

Conservative Swede said...

Ah, the Chosen One.

Zenster said...

One look at modern attire confirms a steady trend towards androgyny. Feminists long ago appropriated men’s wear, this is merely a case of reverse fashion osmosis. Much as with Hollywood, there is a strong case to be made for creative bankruptcy. There is little difference between major motion pictures based on comic books and men’s attire derived from women’s styles. Both represent a total lack of originality and are superficial in their attempt to pass off mere transposition as actual innovation.

ZZMike: Another aspect (you might say "agenda") is to blur the distinction between male and female. They tried it a few years back, with the "unisex" line, but that sort of petered out, so they're off trying again.

A cursory examination of The Communist Agenda shows that many of its ends still are being served by what Josef Stalin could only call these “useful idiots”.

21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.
22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms."
23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art."
25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.
26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy."

If Whiskey_199 chances upon this I'm sure he will be more than happy to reiterate his own conviction that emasculation of Western man is a top priority for those who seek to demolish civilization. Exaltation of the effete male is an indirect yet powerful way of denigrating masculinity. Once virile manhood is indelibly branded with the usual smears of brutality and violence, the erosion of its moral authority is well underway. All that remains is for some truly brutal and violent tyranny like Islam to fill the void.

I would also ask that readers consider the increasing prevalence of phthalates. Also known as endocrine disruptors or endocrine mimics, these chemical compounds are becoming more common in an era of individually packages foodstuffs. A large number of flexible polymers rely upon phthalates to serve as plasticizers. The most common form used to be cling wraps utilized by the food packaging industry. American manufacturers have migrated away from phthalates and over to using di (2-ethylhexyl) adipate (DEHA). However, megadoses of DEHA have shown mutagenic properties in mice so there are many other questions that still need answering.

The ubiquitous role of phthalates has led some scientists to speculate that they may play an as yet unclear role with respect to the worldwide decline in human sperm count. Wildlife specimens gathered near facilities with high phthalate discharge rates have been found to be hermaphroditic or possessing malformed sexual organs. Similar concerns are being raised over the significant increase in serotonin reuptake inhibitors and other powerful brain affecting chemicals (e.g., Prozac, Lexapro, Zoloft, etc.), commonly being prescribed for mood disorders. Any excess of these formidable compounds is excreted in human urine and easily make their way past effluent treatment facilities into the ecosphere and food chain.

Even soy products can contain small amounts of compounds that are weakly estrogenic. Current arguments center upon the possibility that even brief and minor exposure to these now common chemicals—at just the wrong time—may inhibit or contribute to the diminution of healthy in utero prenatal sexual development.

While difficult to prove at best, there remains adequate rationale for concern over just how much of the feminization happening in our society may result from increased exposure to these endocrine disruptors and mimics. There is certainly a case to be made that current social and political trends are benefiting from an unexpected synergy being provided by these chemical compounds. As is so frequently the case, no one single factor but, instead, a multitude of small ones have coalesced to create what may be a substantial problem.

spackle said...

Con Swede-

"Ah, the Chosen One."

Did I say anything about Obama? : )

Conservative Swede said...

Spackle,

Did I say anything about Obama? : )

Well, the presidential primaries are all ass backwards too today, of course. But I didn't expect the casting couch.

Dialog heard from the casting couch:

(bonding in the couch)

- We are the ones we have been waiting for.

(later)

- Stop. I don't think that's possible.
- Oh yes we can!

no2liberals said...

Kilts are for manly men.
The fashion model is not.

laine said...

It's been discussed before on this site but bears repeating that radical feminists who are 100% leftist have sowed a perfect storm for western women who are now starting to reap the poisonous harvest in the area with the most advanced case of corrosive socialism, Scandinavia.

There, western men have been demonized and denigrated as being rapists and oppressors when the vast majority are nothing of the kind, so a false stereotype propagated. They are being feminized (to remove their inherent "violent tendencies") starting as toddlers by the public school sytem.

Meanwhile, Scandinavian women are really being raped in record numbers by the Muslim men their own beloved multicult policies have brought in.

So blacken all decent western men as rapists, school them into being wussies, then refuse to name the real criminal rapists as who and what they are - disproportionately by twelve times or so Muslim.

To add insult to injury, shield the Muslim rapists from exposure by calling anyone who reveals the truth a racist Islamophobe.

Apparently long exposure to socialism results in suicidal masochism that imports its sadists from Islam, the most anti-woman belief system extant in the world today. So the most liberated women in the world seek to be treated like the most oppressed and submissive ones. Sick.

Jungle Jim said...

I like the skirt, but he would look better with some pretty pattern tights and heels.

Whiskey said...

Very likely, more and more men will simply ignore everything and wear the usual baggy clothing.

Per Zenster yes it is part of the desire to relegate the average joe into gay-like boxes, so that women might know at a glance who is the big man and who is not.

There is a bit of a history of uber-high status men flouncing around in various effiminate getup just to show how high status and celebrity rich they are: the "Hair Bands" of the metal-1980's, and the emo guys like Pete Wentz who wear the eyeliner and skinny jeans and so forth.

You won't however see any male over the age of 20 wearing the Emo uniform. This is about as laughable at the breasts that male models wore at another show. Fashion is a gay ghetto and therefore irrelevant (like most of TV and yes movies with metrosexual actors cast by the Velvet Mafia).

I find it interesting that the History Channel is filled with "tough guys" like the ones on Deadliest Catch, Axe Men, Tougher in Alaska, Ice Road Trucker, or on Nat Geo with America's Port, etc.

In a recession, this gay stuff is just a waste of everyone's time and money.

laller said...

I remember seeing guys from the techno scene wearing "skirts"(they were kinda like short sarongs) in the 90's, in the same way that model is. It's not a completely new concept.
Personally I don't really care, if skirts are in fashion for men. I've never considered the fashion world a sane world...

dienw said...

Very likely, more and more men will simply ignore everything and wear the usual baggy clothing.

Uh, no. I will be wearing Levis. Baggy pants are a step in the direction of emasculation the male.

MauserMedic said...

Baggy pants are just fine, provided they have eight pockets, a digital pattern, and are properly bloused into your boots :)

Proud Infidel said...

The thing with super thin, curveless female models has always baffled me. Those women just don't look that attractive to me. My wife was watching a local show where they covered a bikini fashion show just held in Miami Beach. They had some sexy looking bikinis, but the models were so devoid of curves they all looked the same to me. All of them super thin. Gimme some real women with curves, man!

As far as men's fashions, I'm proud to say that I am THE most unfashionable man there is. My idea of dressing up is wearing long pants instead of shorts.

poetcomic1 said...

Every few years some designer puts a man in a skirt for publicity. The real threat (as Diane West noticed) is that American men dress and act like teenage boys well into their fifties. I love 1940's movies - its like visiting Planet Grown-up in a galaxy far away.

Dymphna said...

Zenster--

You have some excellent information in your comment, but it's well over 500 words. When that happens, you know the result for many readers, don't you?

"TLDR" (Too Long, Didn't Read).

Readers would be better served by shorter comments -- simply break up the information into digestible bites.

Dymphna said...

mausermedic-- Good to see you. I'm still saving up for my "Hello Kitty" gun...ever since i found out they were real.
________
Proud infidel -- I forget what branch of science deals with animals and "supersigns" but the waist/hip ratio in women is purported to be a strong attractor for men. So why is Marilyn Monroe a gay icon? Go figure.

Dymphna said...

@poetcomic1--

The real threat (as Diane West noticed) is that American men dress and act like teenage boys well into their fifties.

West's book is so encompassing on the subject of failing to grow up that it's hard to finish writing my review. What I do notice, though, is that her point of view is so absolutely spot on that when I see an example of what she writes about, I know it instantly -- whether it be dress, behavior, attitude, etc.

Armance said...

Every few years some designer puts a man in a skirt for publicity. The real threat (as Diane West noticed) is that American men dress and act like teenage boys well into their fifties. I love 1940's movies - its like visiting Planet Grown-up in a galaxy far away.


Absolutely! I adore to watch the 40's-50's movies for the same reason - I love to see those mature, charming, manly gentlemen. When I see Humphrey Bogart or Spencer Tracy or Cary Grant and others like them I realize what we lost - this unique combination of virility and elegance (true masculine elegance!) which used to be the Western man... Most men of today look like teenagers compared to them. I mean, moving a little bit to the political level, it's like the difference between Tony Blair and Winston Churchill.

Conservative Swede said...

Well this is off-topic, but still somewhat touches upon some of the side tracks in this thread:

Watch the puppet in action without a script, and have a big laugh:

Obama's Ad Lib Response to Surge

His being an empty nobody at naked display. He can barely string a sentence together, much less say anything with it.

Zenster said...

Dymphna, the vast bulk of my comments are less than six paragraphs. Occasionally, the subject at hand warrants connecting up several topics. In this case they were: The Communist Agenda, feminist politics and phthalate-based endocrine disruptors with how they may be combining to downsize Western masculinity. Breaking it into separate posts would have been more confusing than going on at moderate length.

In fact, the entire article was a whopping 667 words with my own writing amounting to 536 of them. While, perhaps, right at the boundary my entire piece really didn't violate the spirit of your proposed 500 word limit. At least I have mastered what remains elusive to some other contributors hereabouts, namely, the magical paragraph.

Dymphna: So why is Marilyn Monroe a gay icon?

I would suspect it derives from how they envy the combined effect of her ability to attract other men, pronounced promiscuity, vulnerability, glamourous image, flamboyant sexuality and the fact that she died so early as to never have declined in appearance.

Live fast, die young and leave a good looking corpse might as well be the motto for much of the current Gay Generation. Anyone doubting this should read about Bug Chasers. Every last aspect I mention about Monroe has been adopted and taken to a depraved new level. It is the ultimate in denial, of self, of reality, of the future and of life itself.

In fact, considering how outright suicidal Bug Chasers are, it no longer amazes me that gays in general are essentially mute with respect to Islam's threat. There is an undercurrent of willful self-destruction that informs both behaviors.

ZZMike said...

"... is that American men dress and act like teenage boys well into their fifties ..."

Which brings me to short pants. Young boys used to wait impatiently for years until they could get rid of those awful short pants and wear grownup clothes.

Another fashion tip for young men: your belt goes ABOVE your butt, not across it or over it.

And civilized men do not wear hats indoors.

"So why is Marilyn Monore a gay icon?" I didn't know she is. I thought it was Judy Garland.

Dymphna said...

Zenster--

My remarks about your long comment were not meant to be taken as a rebuke. I am simply pointing out a fact of commenting life:

Long comments = TLDR.

Again, *if* you want people to read and respond to your remarks, break them up into readable segments and post them separately.

I agree, you only ran about 20% over the 500 word limit, but the only reason I established that mark at all was so that comments will actually be read and not merely scrolled past.

Guess it depends on what you want, but never forget that communication is the act of the recipient. If what occurs is TLDR, then it's not real communication, is it?

Besides, the practice of brevity is a good intellectual discipline...

Dymphna said...

@zzmike
"So why is Marilyn Monore a gay icon?" I didn't know she is. I thought it was Judy Garland.

Both of those, plus Bette Midler and Ethel Merman and Carol Channing. Even Cher makes some lists.

What is the defining point? Probably a sense of style and drama. Very feminine. No trash-dressing., just artful style.

BTW, Bettie Page was a favorite, too. I know someone who wrote a great song about her, but i can't find the lyrics.

Zenster said...

Dymphna: My remarks about your long comment were not meant to be taken as a rebuke.

It didn't really feel like one. If some people find it difficult to follow my more detailed comments, that's just a chance I'm going to have to take.

X said...

The thing with super thin, curveless female models has always baffled me.

They have a purpose, though. They're as close as designers can get to a walking clothes rack without making robots. The reason they use super-thin models is so that the clothes will hang off them in the same way they hang off a coat hanger. They want their clothes to look good on the rack so people will buy them.

thll said...

Surely the whole purpose of this garb is to have men sit down when they take a pee...