There’s a big movement at the moment right now challenging gender stereotypes and I don’t think anyone is spearheading it better than 61 year old Mark Bryan, who has started an Instagram account showcasing him wearing skirts and heels in pretty much every photograph.
Images VIA
Mark is an American robotic engineer who now lives in Germany and believes that clothing should be genderless, so typically wears a shirt, a skirt and heels as that’s the outfit that he feels most comfortable in. The married father of three explained his dress sense and Instagram account to Bored Panda:
I dress like this because I can. Just to be different. I have always admired the women that wore tight skirts and heels. Not sexually, but the power they presented. I don’t dress to be sexual, but to dress like any professional woman would.
To me, clothes have no gender. I prefer skirts to dresses. Dresses don’t allow me to mix the genders. I prefer a ‘masculine’ look above the waist and a non-gendered look below the waist. It’s all about clothes having no gender.
I do this for non-sexual reasons. Men can wear this style without being labelled as gay or queer. I don’t act like a sissy, which is one of the most frequent comments I get from men. They just assume I’m gay and a sissy until they start talking to me.
I am just an average, normal, straight, and happily married guy. I love beautiful women, Porsche, and I just want to incorporate a skirt and heels into my daily wardrobe.
My wife often makes suggestions on what I should wear. My daughter wishes she could borrow my shoes at times.
Take a person with bright green hair. Green hair is not normal. You look up and see this person, your mind tells you it’s a person with green hair, you think to yourself, that’s odd or interesting, then you go back to do what you were doing and don’t give it another thought.
I believe this is the same when people see me in a skirt and heels.
I am old enough to remember that in school, the girls could not wear pants. Pants have now become a non-gendered article of clothing. So why can’t skirts and heels be non-gendered?
I mean everything he’s saying there does make sense, but I’m still finding it a little weird because it’s been ingrained into my head since I was born that women wear skirts and heels and men don’t. Maybe Mark’s Instagram crusade will lead to a change in that thinking – he already has 77,000 followers so he must be doing something right.
For more of the same, check out Gucci releasing this tartan dress for men. Seems like Mark’s ideas are getting through to some people hey?
