Men's skirts

Outside of Western cultures, men's clothing commonly includes skirts and skirt-like garments; however, in North America and much of Europe, the wearing of a skirt is today usually seen as typical for women and girls and not men and boys, the most notable exceptions being the cassock and the kilt. People have variously attempted to promote the wearing of skirts by men in Western culture and to do away with this gender distinction, albeit with limited general success and considerable cultural resistance.

In Western cultures

Ancient times

Ancient Hebrew, Greek, and Roman men generally wore some form of tunic. Ancient Egyptian Pharoes wore a wrap skirt known as a shendyt, which was similar to modern kilts, while the high priests wore a wrap skirt similar to a sarong.

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.

Decline

From the early Victorian period, there was a decline in the wearing of bright colours and luxurious fabrics by men, with a definite preference for sobriety of dress. By the mid-20th century, orthodox Western male dress, especially business and semi-formal dress, was dominated by sober suits, plain shirts and ties.