Skirts

After long hesitation, I have a confession to make: I like skirts. That is, I like my wife to wear them and I like my daughters to wear them.  Frankly, I prefer that all women wear skirts or dresses rather than pants.  Not because I have an overt desire to see more female legs, though as a man I cannot deny that an ankle or calf (not the bovine type) is a very interesting piece of anatomy.  Rather, I appreciate the differences between male and female.  I want daughters who value those differences enough to resist trends that trivialize distinctions God created.  It may seem silly, but I don't want my wife or daughters to have a wardrobe that is essentially interchangeable with mine.

One only has to observe a few youthful androgynous couples wearing their matching skinny jeans, t-shirts, and knit caps to realize that the eradication of differences between male and female fashion is nearly complete in some circles.  My girls live in jeans most of the week, a habit that is hard to overcome.  Jeans are becoming regular attire for women in the corporate world I work in.  But on Sunday, my wife and I expect our daughters to look, as we so quaintly put it, like young ladies.  

Call me chauvinistic or old-fashioned, but instead of dismally unflattering mannish garments or overtly provocative attire, there is a form of feminine dress where the mysterious female otherness is apparent, yet modest.  I have no formula, no dress code.  But, I know it when I see it.  Somehow, I want to help my daughters see it, too.