How has the idea of androgynous fashion changed the way traditional fashion works?
Women and men are no longer the only to two genders that in the world we are discussing today; there is a new kind of trend that people are looking for, and its name is androgynous fashion. As the Spring 2017 New York Fashion Week has demonstrated the idea of androgynous fashion on the runway, we started to question what defines the feminine and masculine. It is interesting to see letting women’s and men’s collections be shown together, and it’s also a doubt that whether our society should choose a fixed gender or not. Designers have embraced the idea of gender fluidity by combining two lines into one, and by showing political statements with their designs.
In the last couple of years, the idea of genderless fashion has become a trend that is commonly discussed. Earlier than one might expect, the idea of androgynous fashion began in the Tudor Dynasty, when women started to dress freely to stand against the restrict of societies and shown equalities.[1] Later in the 1910s, Coco Chanel, well-known as the creator of little black dresses, overturned the idea of lace necklines and petticoats; instead, she designed the pants in masculine-like silhouettes. She once defended the idea the people should dress based on how they feel, and not by how their gender tells them to feel.[2] Then in the 1930s, Hollywood brought everybody’s attention to Katherine Hepburn, whose buttoned-down shirt and trousers were inspired by menswear.[3] Since then, women have started to break free from their gender stereotypes. In the 80s, when the idea of hippie culture was already popular worldwide, go-go boots with little heels and silk jumpsuit, developed into a new age of unisex fashion, and that’s when bell bottoms, platform shoes and jeans became popular to the world. For example, the style of platform shoes and go-go boots wasn’t expected to be worn by men since they were in heels; however, the disco age brought up the popularity of these “heel boots”, it is clear to see how this kind of fashion had become a trend in both womenswear and menswear.
Somehow, androgynous fashion appears not only in Western culture, but in Asian culture too. In the Republican Period (1912-1949), women received more freedom of dressing through femininity, individuality, and modernity. Due to the popularity of these styles in Western culture, idea has been passed to China and moved from asexual to unisex style. In the 80s, the Chinese embraced a trend of wearing jeans, patterned shirts, bell-bottom pants and overcoats. It is interesting to see the idea of hippies also inspired a dress form in Chinese culture. According to the book Chinese Fashion: From Mao to Now, Juanjuan Wu mentions that “Hip young men and women on the streets of Beijing and Shanghai of the late 70s and early 80s emulated the hipsters of San Francisco or New York of a decade earlier, with their long hair, jeans, patterned shirts and sunglasses.”[4] It’s all about the influence that fashion had on cultures. While the western culture was so ready for changes that unisex fashion brought up to the them, the idea of genderless fashion was just started in Asia.
As we move from the word unisex to androgynous, we would have to understand the term androgynous first. The Urban Dictionary defines it as follows: “One who regardless of sexual characteristic, identifies as both female and male in a fairly even split.”[5] In other words, androgynous fashion is the kind of style that refuses gender norms and has the openness to gender fluidity. In 2015, gender norms are no longer accepted by the fashion industry; instead, expressing ourselves in who we want to be and feel is the new trend that everybody is looking for right now. The creative director Alessandro Michele made his Gucci show in Milan with male models walking down the runway in long hair, pussy-bow blouses and lace, while Saint Laurent’s male models walked down the runway in high heels and pink fur coats.[6] With the element of femininity in menswear, these women collections really define the idea of genderless fashion in their look.
This year, brands like Burberry, Tom Ford and Vetements have started to move from two shows into one show each season. The industry is changing by limiting the gap between modern customer expectation and traditional fashion system. Since the old fashion system contained two separate disconnected shows, the new idea is presented in a more practical way. Julie Gilhart, a consultant and the former fashion director of Barneys New York said that “It is really being looked to as a trailblazer in the industry, that makes this move potentially the most disruptive change yet.”[7] Having two different separate lines is how traditional fashion shows work. Furthermore, designers want to show the practicality of the brand. As menswear shows are held in January and July, and womenswear in September/October and February/March, having one show instead of two. Is obviously more efficient, especially if we look at the cost of a show; it can reach almost 1 million Euro, nearly 1.1 million USD according to today’s (2017/4/28) exchange rate[8]. It’s a brilliant idea because combining two different collections into one is also a challenge of passing the message to the audience, which in this case is the brand aesthetic across different genders. However, due to the fact that gender equality is a hot topic in our society, combining shows results in a different approach to the designer’s storytelling. Thus, these designer brands have “abandoned” the traditional fashion show in favor of androgynous fashion.
However, this is not the only reason why androgynous fashion has developed throughout the past decades. Politics have also played a significand role. After the 2017 presidential election, Donald J. Trump stated that he likes the women who work for him “to dress like women, even if you’re in jeans, you need to look neat and orderly.”[9] Ever since the words spread out, designers like Jeremy Scott, Jonathan Simkhai, Public School and editor Joanna Coles have responded critically to his campaign in 2017 New York Fashion Week. The Moschino creative director Jeremy Scott explained to Vogue “ ‘My country is in the toilet. And when my country is in the toilet, the world is in the toilet; We have to fight for everything we believe in. That’s the expression I want to use.’ ”[10] In his collection, he used a combination of women, immigrants, people of color and diverse sexual orientations to express extreme creative freedom of his method.[11] In his menswear show, he used bullet belts and camouflage pants to emphasize that people are ready to fight for their rights. Likewise, in his womenswear precollection, he used similar element such as Transformers franchise on prints and Italianate fresco prints. The designer represented the idea of unisex fashion by having the same message T-shirt and jeans. However, Jeremy Scott is not the only designer who show political statements at New York Fashion Week. Christian Siriano designed the T-shirt with message “People are people.” Jonathan Simkhai presented his designed T-shirt bearing the slogan “Feminist AF.”[12] All these words show the idea of equality of human, which also explains the reason why gender fluidity fashion has become popular. Due to the fact that designers presented their collections that’s inspired by current political issues, we can see how powerful public figures’ words can has on fashion industry. The purpose of using words that represent feminism and gender equality, designers spread the message of people’s rights.
The fashion world used to full of rules and regularity. However, our society changes from where people were not that open-minded to a point that we start to accept different genders and styles. In this world that full of surprises, the idea of androgynous style has resulted in a way that’s imparity to traditional fashion. Alessandro Michele, the creative director of Gucci says, “It’s not just about blurring genders, it’s when things are not exactly what you think. Who wants rules now? Nobody! Especially not women.”[13] Since the idea of gender fluidity fashion started with the LGBT group; it was noticed that androgynous fashion came from where people started to fright for their rights. Following rules is no longer the first priority of fashion industry, freedom is. The freedom of exploring new ideas, the freedom of expressing our personalities and the freedom of developing new methods. This is what androgynous fashion embraced.
[1] Noor Adil, “History of Androgyny in Fashion,” The Mancunion, http://mancunion.com/2011/11/16/history-of-androgyny-in-fashion/
[2] Marlen Komar, The Evolution Of Androgynous Fashion Throughout The 20th Century-PHOTOS, Bustle, March 30, 2016, https://www.bustle.com/articles/149928-the-evolution-of-androgynous-fashion-throughout-the-20th-century-photos
[3] Noor Adil, “History of Androgyny in Fashion,” The Mancunion, http://mancunion.com/2011/11/16/history-of-androgyny-in-fashion/
[4] Wu, juanjuan. Chiense fashion: from Mao to now. Oxford: Berg, 2009, Asexual to Unisex.
[5] “Androgynous.” Urban Dictionary. Accessed May 04, 2017. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=androgynous.
[6] Marlen Komar, The Evolution Of Androgynous Fashion Throughout The 20th Century-PHOTOS, Bustle, March 30, 2016, https://www.bustle.com/articles/149928-the-evolution-of-androgynous-fashion-throughout-the-20th-century-photos
[7] Vanessa Friedman, “Gucci Calls for End to Separation of the Sexes on the Runway” The New York Times, April 5, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/06/fashion/gucci-calls-for-end-to-separation-of-the-sexes-on-the-runway.html?rref=collection/sectioncollection/fashion&action=click&contentCollection=fashion®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0
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[9] Jacey Fortin, “Dress Like a Woman? What Does That Mean?” The New York Times, February 03, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/03/style/trump-women-dress-code-white-house.html
[10] Matthew Schneier, “‘Fight for Art’: Jeremy Scott of Moschino Responds to Donald Trump,” The New York Times, January 16, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/16/fashion/mens-style/moschino-jeremy-scott-trump-transformers-mens-wear.html
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[12] Adam Tschorn, “In this new era, politics is on trend on the runways at New York Fashion Week”, Los Angeles Times, February 13, 2017, http://www.latimes.com/fashion/la-ig-nyfw-runway-messages-20170213-story.html
[13] Jing Zhang, “Interview: Gucci’s Alessandro Michele on why he has no wish to be a celebrity”, Post Magazine, October 24, 2015, http://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1870314/interview-guccis-alessandro-michele-why-he-has-no-wish-be.
