The assignment was to choose a fashion advertisement and analyze how gender was approached from all aspects. My mind immediately began thinking of casual clothing companies like Gap, J.Crew, and Diesel. The thought behind that being, any and everyone wears sweaters and sweatshirts, those are ideally unisex items. When I typed ‘gender’ next to these company names in Google, I was introduced to a series of articles both appreciating and attacking these companies because of their embracing of bending gender norms. Gap and J.Crew, family-oriented companies, were attacked for promoting transgender acceptance with the duality of their garments and J.Crew, specifically, for having a young boy wear pink nail polish in one of their catalogs.
Diesel was able to seperate from the pack with the lack of “family” emphasized in their companies history. I’ve come to think of diesel as the ‘counterculture’ destination for jeans. They’ve never been easy to place in the fashion industry, known for their wacky advertisements, and testy imagery that sometimes is accepted and sometimes isn’t. Below are some of Diesel’s past advertisements :
When these ads were released, labels were thrown from all directions. You would hear #sexist, #racist, #oversexualized, and #controversial, to say the least. However, the ad that has them subject for this assignment is actually very positive, in the sense that the general population is overall accepting of the direction of the image. For Diesel’s SS16 Campaign, they featured an image of two gender ambiguous people in a soft embrace and matching sweaters, with the words ‘this ad is gender neutral’ off to the side. (the image can be found below):
Looking at this image from a holistic point of view, I’m prompted to wonder what was going on in the United States in 2016 that prompted the release of this ad and when did the term ‘gender neutral’ gain recognition? In a shortened version, the answer is that in 2015, The United States Supreme Court, ruled the right of same-sex marriage between couples, and from that point on, I would argue that a conversation ensued around gender/sex identities. With companies starting to design for more than the average ‘man’ or ‘woman’, the idea of unisex clothing was introduced. I encountered my first garment like this was at American Apparel (R.I.P), labeled as unisex and now with Diesel, its the same principal but more accurately labeled as ‘gender neutral’. Gender Neutral, according to Merriam Webster, is defined as “not referring to either sex but only to people in general”, which suggests inclusion for everyone on the spectrum.
When beginning to analyze the image, I am brought to a quote by Susan Kaiser, “Gender is actually not just who we are; it is what we do or perform as we participate in an embodied way with cultural discourses (123).” This advertisement isn’t just a representation of the varied faces of our society but also a reflection of what is acceptable within our culture. Its sucks to say that it took us this long to accept the idea of both ‘men’, ‘women’, and ‘everything in between’ wearing the same sweater, but I believe this advertisement is a subtle yet forceful introduction to gender and its many approaches. The models serve as blank canvases for the agenda, both serving pale, neutrality, with slicked back hair, looking into the eyes of the camera, daring someone to guess or label them. The use of a pastel green background sets the stage for war but in a very light and playful tone as the two subjects embrace each other in army tones. This advertisement subverts gender norms but also serves as a lovely introduction to the preferred vocabulary and a nice stock image to be associated with it.
The Rise Of Gender Fluid Models In The Fashion World.†EMGN, emgn.com/entertainment/rise-transgender-models-fashion-world/.
“Gender-neutral.” Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 2 Oct. 2017.
Kaiser, Susan B. “Gendering Fashion, Fashioning Gender: Beyond Binaries.” Fashion and Cultural Studies, Bloomsbury Academic, 2015, p. 123.
