YOU remember where you were when you had your first beer or first kiss but, men, can you remember the day your lives were irrevocably changed?

It was last week, in case you were wondering, when Brad Pitt announced, nay proclaimed, that you would all soon be wearing skirts.

Now scoff you might, but you metrosexual, bottled beer drinking, highlighted men might be in for a nasty surprise. And come to think of it so might us ladies.

Wearing a skirt might seem like the last male taboo, but I bet some of you will be tempted when you see the effect it has on women.

When the highly-toned specimen Pitt ripples onto the celluloid is his tight, short, metal SKIRT, the sexual impact will be instant. Just like Princess Leia in the gold bikini, a new fantasy will be born.

Oiled-up, greasy strippers will attempt second rate imitations of the long-haired lovely and hen nights from the Valleys will be desperate to check out if the Greek has gone Scottish.

But will it make a real difference on the streets?

In many ways I'd like to say no. I mean can you imagine your rugby-playing boyfriend, or your underfed office lover, popping down to Burtons for the latest paisley over the knee A-line creation.

Or would they be cooing over the new daring M&S range featuring the first 11-inch skirt for a man? Hmmm, somehow I think not.

Brad took a year to make his body a temple to be admired - it's not the same if you have just stepped out of the office and chucked a skirt on with a cheap checked shirt.

But that's not to say men shouldn't wear skirts - they just have to do it in the right way.

Since the dawn of time men have been in skirts, there were plenty in the bible and the Greeks and Romans just loved them.

In those days it was all about virility, strength and no man was ever turned down at the end of the night because he was wearing a skirt.

In time the male/female roles became restricted - skirts for girls, trousers for boys. But women, who want it all and get it, weren't too keen on that and started crossing over to the other side. Now we will wear anything and it's the poor men who are trapped in a restrictive fashion timewarp.

Civilisations were built and conquered in skirts, but modern man can't manage a day in the office in one.

According to the internet, in 1960 there was an attempt to break the mould when US fashion brand Dorcus - they excelled in BO-free shirts - designed a mini skirt called the He-skirt. It never saw the light of day.

While some might try, these Western taboos are still in tact.

In 1995 a man lost a case against Hackney Council who banned him wearing a skirt to work.

It's not about cross dressing though, a la Turner prize winner Grayson Perry, it's just that some men like wearing skirts and the statement that comes with them. Others proclaiming the virtues of the skirt say it is healthy to be free - if you understand my drift.

Website www.bravehearts.us is devoted to the men who willfully shout their skirting habits from the rooftops.

Frankly, most of these men should get back into the skirt closet, but in the entertainment world they just can't stop skirting. Sting turned up at this year's Grammys wearing a skirt - it probably helped his chakras - and both the V&A and The Met in New York have held exhibitions about men in skirts.

When Kurt Cobain wore a babydoll dress with clumpy DMs he was making a rebellious statement.

It says, "I'm a man, but I will not stick to society's conventions" - in short, it was two fingers to the establishment.

When Manic Street Preachers drummer Sean Moore was asked about bandmate Nicky Wire's penchant for skirts he said, "Men wearing skirts is a natural thing, don't you think?"

Axl Rose and Michael Hutchence thought so too.

Sartorial dress sense also every so often grabs a trend that everyone first mocks and then loves. Who would have thought that mullets would be de rigeur or that punk would ever take off? In the past, designers such as Gaultier and Burberry have adopted the skirt and played with the idea of men's masculinity.

I suspect Brad was teasing when he proclaimed next summer would see all men in skirts, but the revolution has been coming slowly but surely. And men, if you want some real encouragement to wear a skirt then women seem to love it.

We are not just talking about the reaction to the likes of Pitt or Russell Crowe in a gladiatorial outfit, but you check out the gaggles that surround a man in a kilt.

Bingo, instant winner.

Whether you skirt around the issue or just dive in with both legs tastefully crossed there is one important thing for men to remember... attitude.

There is no point wearing a skirt and not acting like a man, as a frocked David Bowie once said, "You must understand that it's not a woman's dress. It's a man's dress."