Ever since i put on a pair of my mom's heels at 11 and loved them, i've always wanted to know what my deal was, mainly because i thought it would help me figure out how to express myself in a way that i felt was true to myself, whatever the hell that means.

It looks like it would take forty years for not just me to settle down as a person but also for society to change with a whole bunch of young people changing attitudes and language enough for things to fall into place.  In the meantime, i took some baby steps by starting in 2008 to wear kilts, a heteronormative-approved skirt for men.  I started buying nicer clothes in general as a result of, for the first time, caring about how i dressed and looked on a daily basis.

Two years and a half ago, i bought my first non-kilt skirt from eShakti, which a coworker had recommended primarily for the ability to customize the garment's measurements, as she has an unusually shaped body.  As i do, too, given my typically male proportions, and the fact that most of their skirts have pockets (which i had no interest in going without), that sealed the deal.  But i still didn't know where to wear it (although i did take it out to go see Florence + the Machine for my granddaughter's birthday with her stepmom [my stepdaughter], which was a perfect occasion as i saw other guys there wearing clothes with femenine festoons), so it mostly languished in my closet.

Last year, after i started at Zoox, i decided to rip off the bandaid on Halloween (how cliché) and wore the navy skirt with these, which i'd bought in Portland on a bit of a lark in 2019 and were also looking for an opportunity to shine in public.  After that, i ended up buying a couple more skirts, and also some mid-heeled boots, and it's really feeling like it's all coming together.

Following are the skirts, in order of purchase, plus my favorite pairs of knee-high boots.

So how am i labeling myself?  I'm a cis hetero dude with femme fashion tendencies; that's good enough.

In closing, here's Neko Case.