Unisex Movement: Passing Trend or Perpetual Freedom?
Unisex fashion is the way to stop hiding your real face
The unisex movement may be the new era of the fashion industry since it enables everyone to live in harmony with their authentic personality. Your appearance is the first way of communication, and, with the unisex style, people will not judge who you truly are by your gender identity. Likewise, according to Sara Radin (2019), runaway shows in even conservative parts of the world, such as Russia, have begun to introduce the gender-neutral style thereby preparing people for the inevitable changes in their closets. However, a lot of apparel manufacturers still divide their clothing into two certain groups, which are female and male clothing. So, most companies neglect the diversity of genders and continue to sell products that satisfy the needs and wants of one target market, cisgender people. Therefore, a lot of fashion innovators are still in a place where the only existed group of people is cisgenders.
Besides, cisgenders also support the idea of fashion as the unisex industry. It is attributed to the fact that nowadays both women and men have similar lifestyles which require similar outfits as well. In other words, if there is no line between woman’s and man’s positions in society, the line between their looks should be also erased. Thus, the most appropriate interpretation of unisex style would be the combination of masculine and feminine characteristics. As a result, the gender-neutral trend allows everyone to show their real face so that this trend may gain a foothold in the worldwide fashion industry soon.
Transgenders: insignificant group for the fashion industry
By representing unisex clothing, fashion innovators could avoid the marginalization of transgender people. According to Tranna Wintour’s (2019) article “The impossible standards for transgender woman”, society still denies the existence of people who cannot determine their genders as feminine or masculine since it is hard to realize that there is a space between two sexes. Therefore, most fashion stores continue to include specific signs emphasizing that the particular part of the store is for either woman or man. So, even though fashion is a progressive industry, people, who do not fit into the standardized gender system, are treated as an insignificant group for the industry. For this reason, those people redirect their appearance to one certain sex.
Transgenders purposely demonstrate hyperfeminine or hypermasculine features in their outfits thereby clearly showing which sex people can associate them with. In particular, transgender women hide their real faces by conventional “girl looks in order to conform to the Vogue-level beauty”. Because, unless transgenders look completely like either women or men, the main distinctive characteristics for society might be their non-standard gender. And the unisex style is what may aid transgenders’ individuality to not be linked to their gender identity. So, if this style would firmly entered our lives, transgenders would be able to express themselves not thinking about whether that garment makes them real women/men or not. Since, indeed, the unisex movement removes borders which create an idealistic picture of woman’s and man’s bodies.
Furthermore, some fashion authorities continue to violate the rights of transgenders by preventing them from being a part of this industry.
Because the show is a fantasy
This is how Ed Razek, the chief marketing officer of Victoria’s Secret, explained the reason why transgender people could not join their cast. It illustrates that Victoria’s Secret provides people with “toxic standards” of how human bodies should look like. For this reason, people perceive their features as deviations from the established norms. Accordingly, Victoria’s Secret is “criticized as sexist and out of touch” since society needs something more than beauty standards where only femininity and masculinity can be considered appealing characteristics. Some brands, as Victoria’s Secret, unintentionally convince people that they will be women only in case they wear girl-like attires and have full makeup on, or, conversely, a person is a man if the outfit contains only masculine items. Therefore, transgenders attempt to be an actual woman or man by putting some conventionally girls’ or boys’ garments on. This fact reveals the necessity of advocating the idea of the gender-neutral style because this style will not dictate people how they should look like to become a person of a particular gender. Ultimately, transgenders would not be eliminated from the fashion industry if this industry broadened the horizons in terms of gender diversity and beauty standards.
Same lifestyles mean same wardrobes
Some cisgenders’ liberty of choice is also restricted by gender stereotypes in the fashion industry. The gender-neutral movement has appeared to solve this issue, but a lot of people are still prejudiced against it. Nevertheless, some unisex trends have already infused to our day-today lives successfully. As it was said by the famous designer Miuccia Prada:
contemporary fashion disrupts the theory women were divided from men
It means that women and men do not live in “parallel lives” where they have completely different functions. Modern women select the comfortable for their lifestyle clothing, but not the clothing which reflects their feminine traits. Therefore, trousers or other attributes of men’s wardrobe became significant parts of women’s casual looks. The opportunity for women to wear trousers in everyday life emphasizes equal rights between the two sexes. Women deserve to have the same power and privileges as men at their workplaces. And they can reinforce this idea by wearing masculine outfits as casual ones. Even though, in the past, solely men could rise to heights in their career, over time, women-leaders have also become a norm for society. The equal rights also have changed women’s approach to clothing a lot. So, now, the unisex style plays a crucial role in their lives because this is how they can prove their strengths in society.
For this purpose, even some masculine brands, as Savile Row, have increased the production of suits in small sizes in order to satisfy women’s needs as well. Thus, it is extremely hard to imagine women’s closet without a pair of trousers in there, since this masculine garment is a reflection of a modern woman’s lifestyle. This fact reveals that unisex clothing facilitates the recognition of a woman as an equal and significant part of society.
In contrast, although women’s attires have been gradually transited to the unisex style, it is still unacceptable to wear skirts or other girl-like attires for men.
Skirts for men are considered either performance or cultural heritage
It means that dresses in men’s outfits are perceived as a statement of pieces, but not regular things. For instance, some celebrities, as actor Billy Porter, can mix their outfits with feminine features of clothing to appear on the events, as Academy Awards 2019. But, when it comes to real life, there will be a lot of prejudices against men wearing dresses. However, if women have the same power and status as men in society, skirts or other feminine garments should not be strange for men as well. Thus, the most relevant issue is that the gender-neutral style tends to be associated with masculine traits only. Because, whereas women’s closets have become increasingly diverse, men’s outfits still have only one direction. So, the combination of masculine and feminine features is what would enable men to include feminine clothes to their casual looks. As a result, the main goal of the gender-neutral movement should be the erasing of the boundaries which imply that a certain type of clothing, work position or lifestyle is appropriate for one certain sex.
Does the unisex movement have a future?
Thus, fashion innovators should strive to represent the unisex trend as a long-term one because this trend would serve common needs and wants. However, the changes in people’s conscious cannot happen overnight; the transition to the unisex style is a long and complicated process. So, even tiny shifts in our perception of fashion contribute to removing the long-existing stereotypes. Subsequently, it is impossible to not notice that some fashion innovators have already started to move towards gender neutrality.
The luxurious and famous fashion brand Gucci launched a film about the gender-fluid movement, thereby demonstrating how it would be if everybody could live in harmony with their authentic personality. This campaign has shown people that there are no right or wrong in fashion anymore. And unisex clothing is one of the ways which can help people overcome the fear of expressing themselves. Accordingly, the gender-neutral trend satisfies modern society’s interests, so, probably, it is not just a fad, passing fashion trend, but the future of the fashion industry.
