FASHION / castaway (those trousers)

YOU'RE a man. You're fed up with trousers and zips, braces and button flies. Well why not take the plunge this year? Try a skirt. For spring/summer 1994, nearly every international designer followed up the experiment Jean-Paul Gaultier started years ago. A lot of their 'skirts' were simply lengths of fabric wrapped and tied like the traditional sarong, but worn with suit jackets and sweaters: Paul Smith used muslin; Katharine

Hamnett used white cotton; Dolce & Gabbana's had fringes and Joseph invested in some beautiful antique sarongs, the attractions of which won't be restricted to male customers. Following up the ethnic influences of last summer, there's something quite subtle and almost natural about this shift into a look which, a few years back, would have been predicted to cause a major stir. Somehow, now, it seems a viable option for fashionable men at least. Like sweat-pants, singlets and shorts, you might begin by wearing them round the house, then one day you'll just nip out to the corner shop and . . . and you'll have done it. Worn a skirt in public.

(Photographs omitted)