Mark Bryan is a robotics engineer who has been married for 11 years and has a daughter. He identifies as straight and chooses to dress unconventionally. Bryan is an American living in Germany, and he doesn’t believe that fashion has to be gendered. You can find Bryan wearing a skirt and heels to work or out anywhere else he goes on any given day.
Bryan said he doesn’t like how limited men’s choices are in the fashion department, especially when it comes to office attire. Men’s pants only come in a few colors, mostly black, gray, dark blue and the occasional pinstripe, and cuts.
The stylish dresser believes that if women are allowed to wear pants, men should be able to wear skirts and dresses as well. Bryan likes how skirts come in many styles and patterns – and many more colors – unlike men’s clothing.
Bryan prefers to mix traditional gender looks by wearing masculine attire on his top half, like a blazer and tie, and traditionally feminine attire on the bottom half. He will typically wear a pencil skirt and four-inch heels on the bottom.
Wearing high heels is no problem for Bryan. He first learned how to do it when his college girlfriend asked him to wear high heels while dancing with her so that they were on the same level. They continued this for over a year.
Bryan doesn’t let stereotypes or assumptions stop him from dressing in a way that brings him joy. He challenges expectations and does so unapologetically. Keep reading to hear what Bryan has to say about his fashion choices.
Bryan has a very clear idea about how he likes to dress. He told Bored Panda: “To me, clothes have no gender. I prefer skirts to dresses. Dresses don’t allow me to mix the genders. I prefer a ‘masculine’ look above the waist and a non-gendered look below the waist. It’s all about clothes having no gender.”
He continued: “I am old enough to remember that in school, the girls could not wear pants. Pants have now become a non-gendered article of clothing. So why can’t skirts and heels be non-gendered? Besides, men wore heels before women did. Maybe not today’s stiletto-style heels, but men did wear heels before women.”
Bryan is correct about that. High heels can look back on a long history. Although historians and archaeologists cannot date their invention clearly, they have been around at least since the 10th century. And they were not a fashion statement at first. No, the first recorded use of high heels was eminently practical: the Persian cavalry wore boots with heels, called a kalash or galesh, that made it easier for them to keep their feet inside their stirrups. This is, by the way, the same reason why cowboy boots have a small heel as well!
Since owning a horse was a sign of wealth, only well-off men could afford to wear these high-heeled boots. The use of them slowly spread across Europe, and high heels heels became one of the fashion signs of rich noblemen or traders. In fact, following the Great Schism of the Christian Church in the 11th century, even the pope wore high heels.
It wasn’t until several hundred years later that fashion slowly changed. During the 18th century, cultural concerns in Europe came up about the distinction between males and females and talk about what men and women should wear arose. This is the point in time where the belief that fashion is something effeminate and frivolous that “real men” shouldn’t care about hails from. Due to these changing beliefs, men largely abandoned high heels heels, as they were seen as impractical and mere accessories.
Bryan is one of the examples of how high-heels are slowly coming back as an accepted form of footwear for men. Although the engineer champions the option of wearing high-heeled shoes for men, he understands many people will look twice when they see him. He compares his style choices to someone who chooses to dye their hair bright colors. He explained:
“Take a person with bright green hair. Green hair is not normal. You look up and see this person, your mind tells you it’s a person with green hair, you think to yourself, that’s odd or interesting, then you go back to do what you were doing and don’t give it another thought. I believe this is the same when people see me in a skirt and heels.”
Bryan doesn’t have to struggle to find skirts and heels that fit him either. He wears a size 8 in skirts, and with smaller feet for a man, his shoe size in heels is 8.5. If you know a man who is considering trying out wearing heels and skirts too, Bryan suggests starting with a lower heel until you feel more comfortable walking in high heels.
What do you think of Mark Bryan’s style choices? Do you know any men who would try walking in high heels? Let us know, and be sure to send this along to your friends and family.
The sad reason why Meghan Markle & Queen Camilla became ‘enemies,’ revealed
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle left the Royal Family frustrated and angered when they decided their time as active members of the monarchy was up. Of course, things hardly got better when they launched a series of allegations against King Charles and co., sparking an ongoing feud that has no end in sight.
Charles was accused of not being a good father by Harry, while her termed Queen Camilla the “wicked” stepmother. Meghan Markle also made a bombshell claim of racism within the Royal Family. The royals have not responded to any of the allegations, and the rift today between the Sussexes and the monarchy is more profound than ever. No one knows if or when it will come to a close, but one rumored to want to protect the royals at any cost is Queen Camilla.
By all accounts Camilla has been very protective her husband where Harry is concerned. Of course, once upon a time, she and the Sussexes got along well, with it said that the Queen Consort tried to help Meghan settle into royal life. Then one event changed everything. Or, more specifically, one picture changed everything – and it prompted the beginning of the end for Meghan’s royal tenure.
When Prince Harry introduced Meghan Markle to the Royal Family, his stepmother, Queen Camilla, had already been a part of the Firm for years. She and King Charles married in 2005 and Camilla – like Meghan – underwent plenty of scrutiny.
Meghan Markle
Harry and Meghan began dating in 2016, but it only took months before the press was all over the then-Suits actress. Ultimately, things reached a point where Harry himself felt he had to take a stand against it.
In a statement issued by the prince’s communications secretary, Harry publicly claimed that Meghan had been the subject of a wave of harassment. The statement outlined how the Duke rarely took formal action over “fictional stories” published in the press but that “the past week has seen a line crossed.”
“Some of this has been very public – the smear on the front page of a national newspaper; the racial undertones of comment pieces; and the outright sexism and racism of social media trolls and web article comments,” Harry’s statement read.
“Some of it has been hidden from the public – the nightly legal battles to keep defamatory stories out of papers; her mother having to struggle past photographers in order to get to her front door; the attempts of reporters and photographers to gain illegal entry to her home and the calls to police that followed; the substantial bribes offered by papers to her ex-boyfriend; the bombardment of nearly every friend, co-worker, and loved one in her life.”
At the time, BBC royal correspondent Peter Hunt said that there were “those in Buckingham Palace who’ll appreciate his pain.” One of those who certainly understood what Meghan was going through was Camilla, who decided to act.
How Queen Camilla tried helping Meghan Markle settling in to royal life
Camilla did her best to help Meghan adjust to royal life. Shortly before her wedding to Harry, Camilla invited Meghan to a private lunch and shared how the press treated her after Princess Diana’s death, as well as how she coped with the pressure.
According to the Daily Mail, Camilla advised Meghan to focus on the positive sides of her role within the Royal Family and “ride out the storm if negative press would occur.”
Charles was said to have offered similar advice to Harry.
However, Meghan appeared to feel differently. In an ITV documentary, she claimed people didn’t care about her well-being, saying: “Not many people have asked if I’m OK.”
“Meg was really grateful to Camilla, who was very supportive and invited her out for private lunches, particularly around the time of her marriage,” a friend of Meghan told the Daily Mail. “She listened to her and understood that it’s really difficult joining the Royal Family from an otherwise ‘normal’ life.”
The friend added: “Much like Meghan, Camilla had experienced a lot of negative press and hostility from courtiers due to her relationship with Charles when he was still married to Diana.”
“She was very sensitive to Meghan and provided her with support, advising her to ride out the storm and that it would all pass – but ultimately Meghan didn’t listen.”
“She tries very hard to make people welcome”
Meanwhile, a palace aid told the Mail that Camilla understood what it was like for one to come from a “normal life” before suddenly finding themselves in the world’s loftiest, most famous royal family.
“As a consequence, she tries very hard to make people welcome and help them find their feet, and has done so for many years,” the palace source said.
“Her consciously offering to mentor and guide is something that she really does try and do. That applies to many people, not just the Duchess of Cambridge and the Duchess of Sussex.”
That Harry and Meghan’s future didn’t lie with the Royal Family became apparent in the year after their 2018 wedding. Some experts claim that the couple thought about possibly leaving just days after the wedding, but in any case, in January 2020, the statement that they wouldn’t stay on as senior working members of the Royal Family was released.
Meghan Markle then made several bombshell accusations against the royals in the now-infamous Oprah Winfrey interview of 2021, citing why she and Harry felt they couldn’t stay. Although the royals haven’t commented on any of the accusations made by the Sussexes, it sadly appears there were other reasons as to why their position within the monarchy became untenable.
One negative aspect of their royal tenure was that Meghan and Kate Middleton didn’t get along, but the former’s relationship with Camilla also reportedly went down the drain.
Meghan Markle ‘sparked a war‘ with Queen Camilla over pictures
But whose fault was that? One story concerns a picture that was said to have made Camilla furious, marking the beginning of the end.
In 2020, just weeks before the Sussexes left royal life behind, Camilla was scheduled to attend the 10th Anniversary of the Women of the World festival. There, she was to deliver a speech, and it was reported that Meghan promised not to stand in her way.
The Mirror wrote that Camilla and her team had planned the event for over a year. But once there, Meghan stole the spotlight, which upset Camilla.
“Camilla’s work is very important to her and her decision to highlight the scourge of domestic violence at the 10th anniversary of Women of the World was a carefully thought-out plan,” a royal insider said.
“Of course it was known Harry and Meghan would be doing engagements this week, some privately, but everyone was in agreement that Camilla’s speech should take precedence. Unfortunately some people had other ideas.”
Meghan was accused of stealing Camilla’s spotlight by releasing pictures of herself at the event on the same day. As per the Daily Mail, Buckingham Palace had urged royal correspondents to focus on Camilla and not Meghan, but that didn’t happen.
“These kinds of ‘clashes’ are inevitable”
The Duchess reportedly insisted on publishing the photos and was to blame as they were ‘hastily’ published.
Speaking with The Sun last year, royal expert Duncan Larcome said Camilla’s irritation about the pictures is understandable.
“The ‘men in grey suits’ are at pains to avoid diary clashes and the prospect of one member of the family outshining the other on the same day. Camilla would be justified at being miffed to say the least. But as Harry and Meghan continue their work without any regard for the rest of the work of the Royal Family, these kinds of ‘clashes’ are inevitable,” he said.
Camilla has become a symbol for the Royal Family, not least because she has taken on a massive amount of responsibility amid King Charles’ cancer diagnosis and recovery. Harry and Meghan, meanwhile, are still working on rebuilding their image, so it could be argued that Camilla has gotten her revenge.
Harry and Meghan signed a massive deal with Spotify years ago. However, the deal ended in a fiasco, as Meghan’s Archetypes podcast was shut down, and their entire Spotify deal canceled.
In the case of Queen Camilla, podcasts appear to be her thing.
Queen Camilla’s ‘revenge’ on Meghan Markle
In 2021, Camilla launched a new initiative called The Duchess of Cornwall’s Reading Room, a book club about reading recommendations and more. It was founded during the pandemic, became a huge success, and eventually a podcast.
“Camilla’s podcast has been a great success. She has proven many times over she can bring in any of the big names from the world of the arts she wants,” Editor-in-chief of Majesty Magazine Ingrid Seward told The Sun.
“Given Meghan’s apparent disinterest in Queen Camilla, I doubt if she has a nice word to say about her or her podcast.”
According to Denise Palmer Davies, brand expert and director of Borne Media, Camilla’s success is the “perfect revenge” on Meghan.
“After all the hurtful things Harry has said about Camilla, she has finally got her own back on them, she told The Sun. “I bet Meghan, in particular, will be livid over the whole thing and probably a bit embarrassed that hers fell at the first hurdle.”
Do you think Prince Harry and Meghan will ever make amends with the Royal Family or not? Please share this article on Facebook with friends and family and give us your opinion!
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