Why does Link from Legend of Zelda wear a skirt?

Answer 1

Not a Skirt, it's more like an old style Kilt tunic, if you know anything about Medieval style dress, it's not that much of a deal, skirt-like garments were always worn by Men right up till the industrial revolution, it became cumbersome then, so as Men were usually the workers, they started wearing trouser type garments and have just never picked up on wearing Kilt-like Garments much again since.

Where as Women did the same after World War II, they started wearing trousers as it became more necessary, the difference is though, Women still kept their Skirt like garments as a fashion, as Women still didn't do the front line as much as Men, hence over time, it just became more known for Women to wear skirts and Men to wear trousers as it became more common.

It was a social evolution change really, not a rule.

Some Men still wear other like wise garments in some cultures and parts of the world though, but it's just more rare these days, hence more unusual, easily recognised and as a result, quite distinctive.

It's quite similar to what happened with the Gender coloured codes as well, these days it's common to think of Boys as being Blue and Girls as favouring Pink, but before the War, it was the other way around, Pink is actually the masculine colour, as it's a shade of Red, where as Blue was feminine and was seen as 'dainty' and more girl like, the colours have since reversed, if it hadn't it would be double gender and cancel out.