Machismo Gorpcore and Apron Pants – On the Runway

Men’s skirts are becoming normalized, thanks to the pioneers and celebrities of this movement. An article from WWD (available here without paywall) had some interesting anecdotes in this space.

Skirts or skirt-adjacent items — be them skorts, smocks, wraps or waist-aprons — were up 229 percent on the menswear runways compared to last fall.

Federico Barassi of Ssense notes the shift towards genderless dressing, highlighting that many clients are now shopping across gender lines.

Though utility kilts have been popular for years, some new designers are orienting towards the stylish working man, with gorpcore and utilitarian features like cargo pockets, loops, camouflage, and industrial colours.

Gorpcore refers to the trend of wearing functional, outdoorsy gear on the street – Gorp standing for the classic trail mix (“Good Ol’ Raisins and Peanuts”).

Anna Grassi of Gr10k sees skirts as "the most utilitarian system of sheltering the lower part of the body," as opposed to freeing it, inspired by traditional workwear aprons.

Commenting on the paradoxical nature of skirts and pants, Simone Botte and Filippo Biraghi emphasize skirts’ biological advantages, with this observation:

"[skirts] seem more attuned to the male body because of the absence of crotch seams."

We'd have to agree there.

The image above was made with A I. For actual pictures of the designers' skirts, you'll need to visit the article.