At last night's 12-12-12 benefit show at Madison Square Garden, Kanye West paced around a dark, empty stage, cranking out a 20-minute medley of recent and past hits (from "Clique" to "Gold Digger"). But what made a bigger impression than his stamina was the leather skirt and leggings combo he wore onstage. The hubbub was stupid for at least two reasons:

1. Men wearing skirts isn't a new concept. It's the stuff of Times trend pieces from 2009. And 2004. And 1993. And 1984.

2. It was the best costume for the day during several nights of his Watch the Throne tour with Jay-Z, which spanned Oct. 29, 2011 to June 22 of this year. If a rapper in a skirt signals the death of hip-hop, it died a while ago. (Or, you know, when the Pillsbury Doughboy picked up the mic.)

That didn't stop hip-hop's previous pink-furred dandy Cam'ron from supposedly making a crack on Instagram ("Pyrex [hoodie] and a skirt? Shit ain't adding up. And if u co-sign this I'm blocking u . Ima have to save us ") that he apparently deleted. "Talk about the trend toward gender ambiguous fashion," said Philly.com. Some people liked it and some people didn't, USA Today informed us. And concerned commoners on social media clutched the pearls they weren't wearing because pearls are for fags.

A parody Twitter account, @KanyesSkirt, materialized, LOL. Kanye's publicist Kim Kardashian thought her client looked "so cute." Kanye has yet to defend himself or respond to the controversy, but if the Kanye cycle holds up, the meaningless outrage in response to his bold move will give him material to whine about in songs for years to come.

[Image via Getty]