2000

A Man Fighting in a Skirt

2000-10-01

by Mino Nakamura, President of Stores Co.

STORES REPORT (October 2000)

It is not really surprising at the number of men who wear make-up nowadays. There are also men wearing their hair long everywhere you go. It is nothing new either to see them with pierced ears. This particular guy however, completely dumbfounded me. He showed up on stage in a skirt. It was a kind of Scottish kilt, a wraparound skirt, so every time he moved, I caught a glimpse of his thighs. By the way, it was designed by Jean Paul Gaultier.

On the first day of the concert given by Leslie Cheung in Hong Kong, when the curtain rose, it would not be inaccurate to say his attire took the audience's breath away. His figure in a skirt hit the headlines in the Hong Kong dailies the following day, which caused a lot of commotion. There seems to have been those critical about him, saying things like, "Can you believe a man who wears a skirt?" in Hong Kong with the tightly regulated Chinese cultural climate lying underneath the surface. Leslie commented that he expected as much.

Leslie Cheung is an internationally acclaimed film actor who starred in a number of films, including "Farewell My Concubine," " Days of Being Wild" and "Buenos Aires," and is a talented singer as well. It was his first concert in three years, which drew crowds of fans also from Japan as well.

In fact, I was able to see him in a skirt with my own eyes. And upon seeing how women reacted to this man wearing a skirt, it dawned on me that this phenomenon implied so many different things, such as gender role, psychology and dress study, and it can be an interesting subject from any standpoint.

When it comes to skirts, since I'm one who wears them myself, they had been no more than clothes to me until that point. When I saw this male, Leslie Cheung, in a skirt, however, I was able to see from a different perspective for the very first time, i.e., from the viewpoint of the opposite sex. At any rate, it is of great interest to see the reactions of the predominantly female audience. He wore two different types of skirt, depending upon the day; one was knee-length and the other was about calf-length which pretty much hid his legs. They were saying excitedly, "the shorter one is better (sexier)," and "it's better to get a glimpse of his legs." Good grief! Men and women have been switched by a mere skirt!  That’s really how I felt!

What Fighting in a Defenseless Skirt Signifies

No matter how much men may be feminized or become more attentive about their appearance as women are prone to be, the skirt was unfamiliar territory for males, while being the last fortress for women allowing them to assert their femininity. Whereas women are free to wear both skirts and trousers, men just don't wear skirts. The skirt is a piece of clothing that symbolizes being female.

When a man is in a skirt, he appears to be defenseless. Since men have traditionally been charged with the role of fighting, they must have worn pants, enabling them to go into battle immediately. For that reason, when they are in skirts, they look so defenseless and unsteady. Did then both Gaultier who designed the skirts and Leslie give up on the predisposition to fight? Absolutely not. When I saw him sing so unconsciously with the hem of his skirt flapping, it made me think that being armed is not everything when it comes to fighting.It was just another alternative way of fighting, which even made me aware of the courage that I felt emanated from him.

This time around, there was a consistent message Leslie wanted to get across to the audience throughout the concert performance. It was condensed into the word "Wo" in the lyrics of his song, i.e., "I accept what I am" and it sounded as if he were singing about the way he chose to live his life. He has been seen with a male friend over the past several years who has been rumored to be his boyfriend.  Though Leslie hasn't said as much in public, he hasn't kept it a secret in particular, either, which presumably has given rise to a negative image, though.  Despite this however, he has played an active part on the stage without narrowing the sphere of roles that he has undertaken. Even so, I can imagine that it would be no easy matter for either him or his family to suffer the slanders, discrimination or prejudice resulting from such rumors. Against such a backdrop, seeing Leslie singing in a skirt he appeared to be so liberated, charming, lively and contented.

This is clearly different from transvestism though. I saw a light beard upon his chin and manly legs sticking out from his skirt. Needless to say, he wore no makeup. However, what appealed vividly all the more for his skirt was a loud message saying I can do anything.  Even the impossible becomes the possible.

Although his figure was far from suggesting a fighting posture, I felt that there was something like a cool, clear resolution that was conveyed to me. He didn't put on a bold front at all, and in contrast he was just there on stage gently, quite naturally showing no hesitation. And yet he was able to go deep into many people's hearts. In this way, he easily upset the fixed traditional idea that many people have; thereby vanquishing the enemy.

Sympathy about Pain to Liberation

Whenever I hear the movie title "Otoko wa tsurai yo (It's Tough to Be a Man)," I can't help muttering to myself, it's tough to be a woman, too.  When you just think about skirts, there are so many restrictions.  There's no doubt that it's easier to move around and it is more comfortable in pants.  Given the fact that the skirt represents femininity most conspicuously, however, no matter how much women may feel unstable and defenseless, they continue to wear it.  While they can enjoy being woman, they have to in a sense put up with certain inconveniences as well.  They can neither stride along too quickly nor sit down too roughly. In the same way, whether consciously or unconsciously, there are certain psychological restrictions that are imposed on them, which for some reason make them restrain themselves. It's tough to be a man for sure, but it's equally tough to be a woman.

Not only the sadness of living life as a man, or even as a woman, or as neither of the two, but the sadness and pain that every single person has to suffer in order to live was clearly prevalent and embodied within this guy with a light beard on his chin and in a skirt. That pain, however, made him brighter, arousing an unusual sympathy from among the audience. Moreover, such soft sentimentality, in turn, gradually grew and became a great energy heading for liberation.

Each time he flapped the hem of his skirt, I felt as if he were encouraging me by saying, why don't you go your own way and do just as you like? 'Cause there's nothing to fear. You can do anything if you put your mind to it.It can also be interpreted that behind this was a message as a challenge to convention and prejudice. The enthusiastic audience came to accept the fact that a man was wearing a skirt as a matter of course really before they knew it, while the restrictions that were imposed on them by themselves were removed, and subsequently their minds became liberated. And then, as if they were being pushed by an invisible hand from behind, they came to feel encouragement and be able to move another step forward. His skirts seemed to symbolize all that he wanted to say.

More importantly, it seemed to me that Leslie in a skirt was more his real self than in pants or a combat uniform, and it appeared he wore it more like a sacred attire for fighting which could not be replaced with anything else.

Machigom Special