This week, many countries throughout and surrounding Europe have been affected by the aloft temperatures. Since it is so hot that you have to set the air conditioning or furnace and lie down to overcome the warmth, people require to tend to their responsibilities for work and earnings and for Brad Pitt.
On Tuesday, the star was in Berlin for the film preview of his new action flick “Bullet Train” while the city experienced unusually high temperatures. Pitt kept it cool by wearing a head-to-toe linen look that featured a brown skirt and matching jacket. Fans and critics took to social media to weigh in on Pitt’s knee-skimming hemline, but the jury was out on whether the outfit “absolutely slayed” or should have come “with a warning,” as some Twitter users put it. The skirt even earned Pitt an eponymous trending hashtag on Twitter.
The sight of Brad Pitt in a skirt suit is perhaps too much for those who are too young to remember that this is not a first. In 1999, to promote the film “Fight Club” — which at its core investigates the perils of traditional masculinity and the obsession with achieving alpha status — Pitt fronted Rolling Stone magazine in not one, but five mini dresses. Shot by renowned photographer Mark Seliger, Pitt’s photo shoot became a cultural touchstone that put forward a strong case for gender-neutral dress codes. And for any doubters, his international sex symbol status remained untouched even when sporting a skin-tight, pink sequin dress.
Men in skirts continue to make headlines more than half a century after the trend first became fashionable, whether it be Harry Styles on the front of Vogue or Billy Porter’s tuxedo-gown at the 2019 Oscars. Progress is slow, but the more gender-defying fashion statements are normalized, the less shocking they are. Many such statements seem to be reserved for prestigious cultural events, but they are creeping into more low-key events and everyday life. And why not? Sometimes, as was perhaps the case with Pitt, maybe a man in a dress is not a subversive fashion statement at all, but simply a practical decision. If you can’t handle the heat, grab that linen skirt.
