Genderless Era
Share it, blend it. Liquefy the conventional categories which classify you and create a new aesthetic, a new form of beauty. A beauty that incorporate the male and the female traits, neutralizing them. This is the message that seems to be spread today from the fashion shows, retailers, artists and designers. Gender distinction seems to be no more cool and in step with the times, especially in fashion, which is always in frontline in interpreting the spirit of the society.
The concept of ‘gender’ refers to the roles, behaviors, characteristics that the society considers suitable for men and women. So, why don’t overcome these rigid and boring stereotypes? The genderless trend is already an established reality, which we can experience in our everyday life.
Here is a list of some interesting forms of expression of this concept, which spaces from fashion, to shopping experience and design.
Pantone colour of the year 2016: Serenity and Rose Quartz. Calmness, delicacy, peace. These are the sensations communicated by the new shades of pink and blue. For the 2016 Pantone proposes an updated version of the idiosyncratic colors of gender binary. But today these fresh and gentle hues are not meant to be categorized as masculine or feminine. They are simply for the individual.
The childish innocence promoted by Alessandro Michele for Gucci has earned the approval of the fashion press and the public. Pale and slender male models dressed with crepe-de-chine blouses, bows, lace and pastel colors confuse the boundaries between the two sexes. The result is always surprising and controversial, but in a soft and delicate way.
The designer has been recently rewarded at the British Fashion Awards as the best International Fashion Designer of the Year.
J.W Anderson’s avant-garde fashion is another remarkable example of this trend. The brand’s website talks about a “conscious cross-pollination between menswear and womenswear elements” and we can all agree with it. Since his first menswear collection (AW 2011), he has destroyed the conventional rules of dressing proposing long pleated skirts for men, or grey mini dresses matched with boots for the AW 2013.
The brand Each x Other which expresses its idea of interchangeability yet with the name. Inspired by the poem of the artist Robert Montgomery “Safe and warm here in the fire of each other”, the philosophy of the brand is based on the creation of a unisex wardrobe which overcomes the difference between male and female.
Genderless on the web: you-do-you.com. This neutrality is not isolated in the extravagant scenarios of the fashion shows. This website directed by Kristiina Wilson offers original stories, editorials and interviews about gender free fashion and lifestyle. “I started to realise that there was no space for people who were just interested in clothes for people overall. There are sites for women and men, but nothing for people at large”. (K. W.)
No Gender Section on the online store www.thecorner.com, which offers a vast range of sharable and innovative garments by brands like Rad by Rad Hourani, Acne Studios, Lemaire, Nicopanda, Yohji Yamamoto. The same clothes are worn by a male and a female model.
Grabiel Ann Maher design: The Australian designer has redefined the concept of gender in design with the project The Act of Sitting, an installation and performance piece which focuses on a new design for a dynamic chair, which moves in concert with the body. “I was interested to show the construction of gender through the act of sitting” said the designer on an interview.
Discourses about gender fluidity are not a new matter in our culture, but now they have reached a new sensibility and new forms of expression which don’t want to appear aggressive and provocative like in the past. Today the concept of genderless is about a peaceful sharing and a soft mixing of aesthetic codes.
written by Elena Patrignani
