Brad Pitt in his linen ensemble and biker boots. Photo / Getty Images

Social Media and Trending Reporter for nzherald.co.nz

It's really hot in Europe right now so Brad Pitt wore a skirt. This should not be shocking to anyone and yet there are people on the internet with their knickers in an absolute twist about it.

Pitt was in Berlin this week for the premiere of his latest film, Bullet Train. What else was in Berlin, you may ask? The heatwave that is currently sweeping Europe and that we should be talking about a whole lot more because it has already killed many hundreds and is nothing if not a terrifying warning of what's to come.

Yet, the jokes online multiply and many headlines have been written about Pitt's linen skirt, which he told a reporter on the red carpet he wore because of "the breeze". It's 30 goddamn degrees in Berlin and Pitt knows a skirt is the way to stay cool.

Pitt has been considered a sex symbol longer than many people have been alive (not me, though, my back pain is a constant reminder that I've been alive long enough to have had Pitt posters hanging on my bedroom walls). He's worn skirts many times before (who can forget his 1999 Rolling Stone photoshoot, at the height of his hypermasculine Fight Club era, with hoop earrings and short dresses?) and, at 58-years-old he's still rocking them (although, not wanting to sound like my mum but, Bradley, hon, would it have hurt you to run an iron over that?).

Men wearing skirts is by no means a new trend (ancient Greece, anyone?) and is commonplace in many cultures. It is also a fairly regular feature on red carpets everywhere. Lil Nas X does it often, Billy Porter had his stunning tuxed gown moment, Oscar Isaac and Pete Davidson both wore skirts to the Met Gala, Harry Styles loves a good skirt. These people have all been normalising genderless and gender fluid clothing and barely get a mention because cis men in western society don't consider them one of their kind as much as they do with Brad Pitt. This is Tyler Durden after all.

The thing is, Pitt has been trying to make male skirts a thing for at least 18 years. The man has put in the hard yards on this, even if there are people out there saying he's trying to copy Harry Styles. In 2004, while promoting Troy, he told media men would be "wearing skirts next summer". "That's my prediction and proclamation," a very optimistic Pitt said.

He was wrong, obviously, as male skirts are yet to become mainstream in the western world. The good news is that things are improving (albeit at glacial pace). I am old enough to remember a time when even his salmon-coloured shirt would have been enough to annoy a macho man or two.

Does Pitt's linen skirt spell out the end of gendered clothing? I do not know. What I do know is that if we cared about men spilling oil into the oceans as much as we care about men wearing skirts, we could have this climate change issue sorted in no time.

The problem isn't this particular man wearing a skirt. It's other men not wearing skirts in a heatwave because of outdated gender stereotypes.

Men, put a skirt on. Let your crotches feel the breeze.

Oh and stop using fossil fuels.

Helpful reminder for people having a hand wringing mind explosion that Brad Pitt wore a linen skirt. pic.twitter.com/rraDAFjaMT