More celebrities wear dresses: from Billy Porter, the actor on the red carpet, to the singer-songwriter Harry Styles on the cover of Vogue. They have triggered many positive and negative comments, leading fashion commentators to question whether dresses will become a regular part of men's clothing.

At this year's Met Gala, racer Lewis Hamilton wore a black suit with a white lace dress, and singer Troye Sivan wore a simple black dress. Recently, rapper Lil Nas X wore a purple suit with the MTV music video awards ceremony, and wore a Cinderella-style dress at the earlier awards ceremony.

This trend meant a return to the old dress code, when more androgynous clothing was accepted and indeed needed.

Such clothes are not "dresses" as we understand them today: dresses are "feminine" clothes that have become indelible. However, apart from these celebrity pioneers, can skirts and dresses become the mainstream clothing for men in the 21st century?

Of course, our contemporary construction of masculinity is relatively new. Until the beginning of the 20th century, boys and girls wore skirts, until boys “worn breeches” (putting on breeches or “shorts”) around the age of 7.

Pink is a masculine color, it is almost impossible to distinguish between boys and girls.

Before the 15th century, many garments for men and women were quite androgynous, especially outside Europe-in ​​many cultures, this situation continues today.

Japanese kimono is a long robe, with only subtle hints of gender differences. In parts of North Africa, men and women wear jellabiya every day, a loose robe suitable for warm climates.

Ancient Egyptian men, including the Pharaoh, wore schenti, a wrap dress similar to a short skirt. This dress is very practical and versatile, and has been popular for more than 2000 years.

Ancient Greece and Rome generally wore a middle coat, which was a simple long robe, which was shorter and looser for men, but both men and women wore the same way.

The elites wear longer chitons and togas, which can be more elaborately decorated to indicate the gender of the wearer. In these societies, the higher a person's position on the social ladder, the longer his robe.

Separate clothes (not called "trousers" at the time) were usually worn only by soldiers and working class. For the ancient Greeks and Romans, leg sleeves represented barbarians more than powerful civilized people.

Beginning in 800 AD, the bifurcated (split, two-legged) style slowly appeared in the Christian world and was spread by the medieval Emperor Charlemagne as a link between body and aggression and the new European concept of "masculinity" Kind of way. This costume later symbolized (male) control and authority.

However, this is a gradual process. In medieval Europe, until the slow advent of tailoring in the 1400s, men and women wore long, layered clothes and tunics. Even the most "masculine" male clothing armor can still be made of pleated metal "skirts" similar to contemporary tunic.

Beginning in the 15th century, men wore shorter tunics, with hoses or stockings under their shirts, and later breeches.

In addition to short-lived abnormal trends, (such as the satirical and short-lived "petticoat breeches") menswear hem continues to move north.

The appearance of stockings and panties, as well as the appearance of men's relative tights until the 1820s, nonverbally reminded them of their political and economic power.

This is in sharp contrast to the treatment of women’s legs, as a writer said in 1818:

Although dressed, […] is immediately associated with the unworn parts, and these parts are strictly hidden.

Women have been fighting for pants for a long time and made careful progress in using bloomers as underwear in the 19th century. Although gradually accepted as pants wearers in the early 20th century (and in the professional field in the late 1960s), men did not have the same freedom of choice in clothing.

For women, wearing trousers represents physical freedom and allows certain jobs-and therefore easier financial freedom-to be achieved. In a practical sense, men do not need to wear skirts.

It can be said that a piece of clothing does not make any aspect of life easier, but it does allow individuals to express themselves in different ways. Limiting this means suppressing far more than physical movement.

It can be said that since the 18th century (at least in the West), men have been second only to women in terms of the charm and excitement of clothing. Contrary to popular belief, it is usually women who impose clothing customs that we now consider extravagant and restrictive, such as cage petticoats. For many women, fashion is an area of ​​life that they can control.

In the 19th century, psychologist Carl Flugel described this era as the “great male renunciation” of brilliant fashion. Compared with women, men’s clothing choices are jaw-dropping. The (male) suit monopoly may be the result of this one-sidedness. The promotion of menswear can solve this imbalance.

If dresses are to become a real part of men's clothing again, we first need to determine the differences (if any) between them and women's clothing. How to determine the suitability? How will they be worn?

This is not necessarily the same as producing hermaphroditic or gender fluid clothes. It's about dresses that make men who want it still feel masculine-because pants can make women feel feminine.

Although fashionable slacks are usually made to fit women's bodies (aside from utilitarianism and wartime uniforms), it seems that there are very few dresses specifically designed for male physiques.

The velvet tuxedo worn by Billy Porter at the 2019 Oscars is an exception. This is a mixed men's and women's clothing, it uses black to connect modern women's clothing with men's traditional evening wear. It is made by designer Christian Siriano and includes a tuxedo corset and a loose ball skirt.

This dress is an elite rather than mainstream fashion, designed specifically for Mr. Porter. The elegant Gucci number on the cover of Vogue by Mr. Styles is also difficult for everyday consumers to accept, and it requires a high degree of confidence to achieve it.

Selected by Carl Clemons-Hopkins at the 2021 Emmy Awards and Queer Eye's Jonathan Van Ness at the 2018 Creative Arts Emmy Awards The same goes for dresses and dress inspirations.

As Oscar Wilde said when discussing the reform of women's dress in the 1880s:

If a skirt is to have any positive value, it must give up all the same ideas as a normal skirt... [It must]...sacrifice its stupid frills and ruffles.

Maybe men’s dresses should be targeted in the same way: not disguised as anything else, but as a new, independent garment to have its own life.

Examples such as the dresses of Mr. Porter and Mr. Styles sparked heated debates. Other examples of men wearing skirts are usually related to transvestites or those who accept gender reassignment.

Thanks to designers such as Harris Reed, Telfar Clemens, and Charles Jeffrey Loverboy, the tremendous progress in the past few decades has made them more widely known and accepted, while gender mobility and queer identities have become a regular part of the fashion industry. Everyone creates and advocates fluid fashion in their own way, showing the world how to do this.

However, we have not yet reached the point where most men would consider dresses to be a viable option, or men wearing dresses would not trigger assumptions about sexual orientation or gender identity. We also seem to be at a crossroads in how different communities accept men in skirts.

Earlier this year, when cisgender man and rapper Kid Cudi wore a dress designed to pay homage to Kurt Cobain, it caused controversy when performing live on Saturday Night.

In 1993, Mr. Cobain boldly put on a similar but shorter dress on the cover of The Face magazine, which caused a considerable backlash.

In 2021, Mr. Cudi wore a plumper, longer, and more classic "feminine" style, which was well received. However, some commentators—especially those from the LGBTQI community—thought that his choice was nothing more than the “clothing” worn by the performers.

Someone pointed out that for him, this is a publicity stunt, equivalent to a "life and death" decision, for which transgender people have been severely bullied. The reality is that no matter how casual a man wears a skirt, no matter what his motivation is, this choice is full of political, emotional and social influences. It will be subject to positive or negative comments and judgments.

Earlier this year, singer Post Malone's stylist Catherine Hahn put on a dress for the singer, which is another tribute to Mr. Cobain.

The success of this dress inspired her to create "a unisex dress that can be worn every day". Go to work, school, skateboard or date. The result is a long calf, oversized plaid shirt, reminiscent of the rock and roll style of the 90s, and certainly provides a fun, fresh and casual option for men.

However, it is still unisex, not specifically for men. Its shirt-like cut makes it a familiar, non-threatening segue for those who wish to try dresses. This style is the closest we have seen to a potentially mainstream and viable male dress style.

Dresses may still be a novelty for many men, a rebellious display of bravery and individuality, similar to the female pioneers of the rational and aesthetic clothing movement in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Please note that during this pandemic, there has been a surge in men's skirt designs from brands such as Burberry and Stefan Cooke.

Many of these are inspired by the traditional "men's skirts", that is, short skirts. But longer, calf length, folds, and A-shaped examples are also favored. During the lockdown period, more men may feel comfortable trying on skirts or dresses.

2020 is an earth-shaking year for life and fashion. But given the highly gendered and ingrained nature of clothing regulations, it seems unlikely that we will see men's clothing become mainstream anytime soon.

Lydia Edwards is a fashion historian at Edith Cowan University.