It is too damn hot, and the only man showing any common sense and decency is Brad Pitt, who showed up to work in a skirt.
In Berlin for the premiere of his latest flick, Bullet Train, Brad, 58, made the best of frightening 40C temperatures in Germany with a loose linen jacket, a dusty pink linen shirt, a pair of Stylmartin motorcycle boots and, our personal highlight, a knee-length linen skirt — along with a few rarely seen tattoos.
The notorious treasure obsessive has struck gold again, for this is peak Man Skirt SZN. From Oscar Isaac’s Thom Browne number at the Moon Knight premiere earlier this year, Pete Davidson’s recent Met Gala look, or Lil Nas X’s Virgil Abloh-designed Louis Vuitton tartan skirt on Jimmy Fallon last year (and, of course, Harry Styles looks ad infinitum), the era of sensible summer dressing for men is finally upon us. All it took was a little apocalypse to push us over the egde.
Let us be clear: we stan the skirt, particularly this skirt, which is giving Montanan Rancher on Scottish Highlands minibreak energy. But really, any skirt will do. A knee-length number is cooler in every sense of the word than any other summer attire a man can muster (woe betide the city slicker sticking to a buttoned-up suit and jacket). Trousers are insufferable. Shorts are school uniform. But a skirt has form and fashion, style and substance. Thank you for your service, Brad. Thank you also, Brad’s legs.
As for the ink on the aforementioned legs, one design appears to be a rhinoceros face and the other a human skull, though the meaning behind the two tats in unclear. Ours is not to reason why.
Among the tattoos on Brad's arms, meanwhile, are the phrase 'absurdities de l’ existence' (French for 'life is absurd'), his children’s initials, an outline of Ötzi the Iceman and a Rumi quote ('There exists a field, beyond all notions of right and wrong, I will meet you there').
Of course, all this skirtage is less fashion forward and more a return to past glories. From Ancient Greek himations to Roman pteruges, from Scottish kilts to Japanese hakama, almost every civilisation has had its own take on the man skirt. And, as our friends at Vogue noted, it’s not even the first time Pitt himself has worn a dress, either. In 1999, his Rolling Stone cover story—photographed by Mark Seliger at the height of Pitt’s hypermasculine Fight Club era — saw him slip into a series of glitzy mini dresses.
As our old pal Seal used to say, we’re never going to survive unless we get a little crazy. When you are a man, and the mercury hits 40C, you are left with only two choices. Fill your wheelie bin with ice and water, slip into it, and watch the world burn with a cocktail. Or slip into something a little more comfortable – say, a skirt – and be the change you want to see in the world. Easy, breezy, beautiful.