No, it’s not an April Fools joke, I’ve actually got something more serious for you guys this week. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, fashion is much more than what you wear. It’s one of the most noticeable forms of self-expression, and through that, a reflection of our culture. In an era of unprecedented interconnectedness, the status quo is slowly becoming more receptive to change, and the fashion world is changing with it. Gender has been a hot topic recently, though maybe it always was. Designers have followed suit by adding more androgynous styles to their collections, and blurring the lines between male and female exclusive.
Women have been wearing menswear since the ’20s, but androgyny has created a new aesthetic equally accessible to both genders. Last year, Prada and Gucci’s men’s lines experimented with traditionally feminine styles, including lace shirts, ruffled blouses and straight-cut dresses. On each seat at Prada’s fall runway were cards reading, “Gender is a context and context is often gendered.” It’s also becoming more common to see women modeling menswear and men modeling women’s wear on the runways. This year Prada and Givenchy both featured women models in their menswear runways while a black knit skirt was one of the most recurring pieces on Givenchy’s male models.
This isn’t just a trend among big names though, many newer up and coming designers have been founded exclusively in the androgynous. Barney’s uptown New York location just recreated a life-size replica of the Hood by Air (HBA) spring 2016 fashion show. HBA has blown up in the last few years and is supported by celebrities like Rihanna, Kanye West and Drake. While officially categorized as menswear, HBA’s current collections feature crop tops, sheer button downs, short shorts, and a pair of “tube top overalls.”
Gender blurring is not just a runway exclusive either, other celebs have been rocking clothes of the opposite sex for some time now, and it’s becoming less unusual. Jaden Smith created quite a stir when he appeared as one of the faces of Luis Vuitton’s new 2016 Spring/Summer campaign. This is not the first time Smith has dabbled in women’s wear either and is probably the best known male celeb that can pull off skirts! Pharrell Williams is another star famous for incorporated women’s clothing into his personal style. A recent video shows him trying on feminine pieces at the Chanel flagship store in preparation for the 2016 Autumn/Winter show.
I could go on. The point is, unless you’re watching runways and looking in the right places, it’s easy to miss these tiny details that form a pretty big picture when put together. Fashion seems to be the one area where women are ahead of men, and I don’t say that lightly. Women still face many changes and have a long way to go from being equal, but men are still pigeonholed too. We forget women wearing pants was once just as radical as men wearing skirts now seems.
Androgyny is an interesting solution because it avoids the problem of a dramatic crossover. Instead of putting one sex directly into another’s shoes (literally), it creates a new platform that is aimed at both genders from the start. Not to mention it also caters to the millions and millions of people who don’t specifically identify as one gender or another anyway. If it isn’t already, the day is coming when men in skirts won’t seem quite so “oh my!”. Besides, Ewan McGregor looks awesome in a kilt.
