Why I gave up #skirtathon2011

I started with a lot of faith and energy, the skirtathon 2011, I heard about it the day it started and was actually wearing a skirt that day. The skirtathon is an online 'run' where the contesters wear a skirt or dress every weekday during the month of April. What a good way to finally not just wear my skirts and dresses, but feel comfortable with it. I started enthusiastic and where I still think it's such a great idea, I had to give up. And it's not even because I ran out of dresses and skirts, which I first thought could happen.

The thing is, I'm working in an office at the harbour. I'm going there on my bicycle which takes about 35 to 45 minutes, depending on the weather conditions. It started out nicely but after a while it did start to bother me that I had to keep my skirt down, also the long one. I live in a coastal place, there's always a wind. After a real short night I decided it was enough, I could not get myself to once again hold my skirt down while on my bicycle, trying to ignore the blokes looking at me. Skirts and bicycles simply don't go together.

Is that saying I'll never wear a skirt or dress to work ever again? No it's not because every once in a while holding the skirt or dress down, fine. But every freaking day... Plus I missed my jeans, I'm sorry, I did. Maybe I'm weak but I'm out. It was fun doing it and I managed 14 days which for my standards is a massive accomplishment. Thank you all for this!

What's up with wearing a short dress?

I wore a mini dress yesterday. Nothing sexy though. Just a pencil shaped (is that the word? I'm clueless) mini dress with Alice in Wonderland inspired prints. There's a big grinning cat on it. It's anything but a little black dress. There was no cleavage whatsoever. I wore legging under it and you could clearly see it were leggings and not tights. It was a working day. I was perfectly decent dressed, fully covered up. I'm far from model material.

But what happens when you are wearing a skirt or dress? Some women will give you dirty looks. What for? And men? They honk with their cars! What's up with that? Do they only see 'short dress' and nothing else? Don't they see my hideous knees which look like they're floating around there where I'm bending my legs (this is true)? My mahoosive upper legs (I'm a cyclist)? My highly unflattering Dr Marten's boots? My lack of showing any skin? Are men idiots?

What I'm trying to say is, with reactions like this, women looking dirty at you if you're wearing anything that isn't in their closets and men reacting like apes it's not really surprising that people would not feel comfortable wearing what they like. Just be safe, follow the masses, don't stand out. Standing out will make you noticed and you will get reactions. Maybe not verbally, but you will. Better safe than anything else. Follow the gray masses. This is what the Dutch are good at. The majority is dressed the same dull way. With this skirtathon I'm forcing myself to wear anything else than jeans and t-shirts. I must say, it's great. Good on me! I should keep it up, also after the skirtathon is finished. You want to look? You want to honk? I might sigh but won't respond to you. I think anyway. I'm blogging about it after all.

Skirtathon 2011 and why I'm in

I'm doing something I've never done before. I'm doing the skirtathon. What the flicking heck is a skirtathon you say? I had no idea and I have also thought it might be an April Fool's joke. But, it's not. A skirtathon is actually quite simple. You wear a skirt (or dress, whatever) every weekday during the month of April. You can't wear the same thing twice though. Is it a fashion thing? A really girly thing? I'm doing it for one reason and one reason only: to finally get to wear all these skirts and dresses I have in my closet!

I'm one of these people who loves buying new stuff, funky dresses, funky skirts, not your average thing. Actually, I love looking for it, holding it and thinking 'wow, that's a cool thing' and then most of the time hanging it back because I'm not going to wear it anyway. The few times I do buy something 'out of the box' it's because I think that if I don't buy it I certainly will never wear it. Sadly the reality is that I often wear the same thing over and over again. Safety I guess. It's easy. And it's a shame. I own (don't think wrong of me now!) a pink latex jumpsuit with flared legs. WEAR THAT THING! But uhm, when right? I'm not exactly Kate Nash. I'm not a fierce singer.

Back to the skirts and dresses. I own quite a few dresses. But don't wear them that much. The only person complaining that I don't is me. So. Here's the skirtathon. Participate! It will MAKE me wear my skirts and my dresses. For a whole month. This should teach me. And it's a bit of online fun with a few other people around the globe.

More info:
Skirtathon on tumblr
Skirtathon on blogger (has all the 'rules')
Skirtathon on twitter