“Well you know one boy that does.” his mother states matter-of-factly. “And I’m sure he was wearing a boy’s dress and not one made for a girl.”
The concept of dresses for boys was as new to Peter as it was to most people. His mother was only aware of the changing fashion due to an article on Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour a month or so previously. Like many boys, Peter was adamant that he’d never wear a dress, and his mother was fine with that. Many people figured the trend of dresses for boys would, like most fashion trends, disappear as quickly as it came. Although seeing boys in dresses was a rare sight, the pages of many women’s magazines were home to plenty of adverts and articles; either promoting or discussing the trend.
This side effect of the genderquake didn’t snowball into something massive overnight, but it didn’t burn out and fade away either. Over the following year or so the trend just seemed to trundle on, wallowing in its mediocrity, a bit like a punk rocker; we still see one occasionally but they don’t shock or offend any more, they just ‘are’.
Of course, there were signs of this inevitable side effect; but only in hindsight. As girls began almost entirely wearing trousers for school, boys gradually began wearing trousers of a similar style; being Lycra and tight-fitting down to the knee, then flaring into a boot cut. This led to VPL issues for boys and as a result, underwear with an invisible hem became available for them.
When fashion veteran Jean Paul Gaultier introduced the reverse shirt; a formal shirt for men with a flat front, split collar, and buttons up the back. It broke decades of traditional front fastening shirts being the only choice and quickly gained a firm foothold in mainstream male attire.
Around the same time, boy’s and men’s t-shirts adopted the ruffled hem, which was re-branded the ‘ruff & ready’ hem. Yet another subtle indicator of what was around the corner was the ubiquity of boys and men having both ears pierced.
It wasn’t too many years ago when the seaside resorts of Brighton, Bournemouth, and Torquay introduced by-laws making it an offense for men to bare their chests in public places. This, for the most part, didn’t include public swimming pools but most certainly applied to beach fronts, promenades, shopping precincts, and public parks. This legislation proved popular amongst the moral majority and soon spread inland before being covered by national decency laws. Whilst most men simply complied and kept their shirts on, some began wearing crop tops, strappy tops, halter necks, cami-style vests, even boob-tubes, and skimpy bikini tops were adopted in order to get maximum exposure without risking a fine for indecency.
Peter and his mother were on holiday with his Aunt Jo, Uncle George, and cousins; James and Michael, aged nine and thirteen respectively. Peter couldn’t help but snigger when James wore a pretty dress for a day to the seaside. Michael wore his boy clothes but did admit to having a couple of dresses too.
“I don’t like them!” Michael insisted. “But I have to wear one when mum wants me to look nice.”
Peter, now twelve-and-a-half is flabbergasted. “Even if mum did buy me a dress… I wouldn’t wear it… no way!”