A Skirt is just a Skirt
Exploring the revolution of Gender Fluid Fashion
If you’re the type to observe and judge as celebrities make their debut on the red carpet for premiers or fashion shows, you’d be aware that gender fluid fashion is now stirring quite the trend. If you aren’t the type, well this will be quite the informative read for you. The fashion industry has revolutionised itself to include gender neutral styles due to the growing community of the LGBT group. There are now an array of sexual orientations that people can define themselves as, as well as a multitude of genders that people can now define (or not define) as. The term “Gender Fluid” basically means that someone does not identify as either male or female. Therefore, Gender Fluid fashion represents clothing that doesn’t define gender. But also, a person who doesn’t view fashion items as a gender orientation eg. A skirt is for anyone not just for a female.
*Fun Fact: Facebook now has 58 Gender Options for Users — wow.
Very confusing I know. But overall just think of it as clothes are clothes and people are people.
Recently we have seen celebrities such as Jaden Smith and Harry Styles step out in public wearing more feminine clothing. In response to the public confusion on Jaden’s choice of attire, the singer publicly addressed his fans stating, “If I Wanna Wear A Dress, Then I Will, And That Will Set The New Wave…” which caused much admiration from his following. His famous father Will Smith was also asked about his son’s choice of apparel in which he responded with, “Jaden is 100 percent fearless, he will do anything. So, as a parent it’s scary, it’s really terrifying — but he is completely willing to live and die by his own artistic decisions and he just doesn’t concern himself with what people think”.
For this year’s Met Gala, singer Harry Styles walked the red carpet in a sheer blouse, pearl earrings and a chunky heeled shoe. Head to toe in Gucci — the crowd went wild for it. Every fashion magazine, from Cosmopolitan to Vogue spoke highly of the singer’s dramatic choice of apparel. I’ve yet to find a negative comment made about Harry’s choice of attire. This could be due to his celebrity title in the industry, but regardless- the fashion statement spoke to millions of his fans.
But where did this gender fluid fashion originate from? Well I guess you could say it began back in the early 20th century with the beginning of the feminist fashion revolution, such as women wearing pants — shocker. Contemporary feminist theories is what first challenged the idea of a fixed identity. But now it’s more than likely that every female — at least in western societies — owns a pair of jeans, pyjama pants, tracksuit pants, leggings, the list goes on. So why has it taken over 100 years for men to wear the opposite to public norms?
Well, men’s fashion is limited, we all know that. You walk into a men’s clothing store and what do you find?
- Basic T-Shirts
- Graphic T-shirts
- Button-Up Shirts
- Trousers
- Jeans
- Chino’s
- Singlets (Tanks)
- Leather Jacket
- Denim Jacket
- Bomber Jacket
- Suit Jacket
I worked at the largest Cotton On Mega store in Australia for over a year and these were the common fashion items I continuously saw come and go (but not really) in the men’s department. The ladies section however, was vastly larger than the men’s. With new apparel coming in every 2 weeks with variations of dresses, skirts, tops and more.
I once was working in the ladies fitting rooms and had a male customer come in to try on an array of female clothing. After each item of clothing he would come out, show me and ask for my opinion which not many customers do in a high-volume store like this one. I was flattered he trusted my judgement and with all honesty he pulled the clothes off tremendously. I loved how confident he was with wearing the ladies attire, but you could also tell he needed that little bit of encouragement from an outsider (eg. Me) to be sold on buying the items.
Proof that gender fluid fashion is on the rise can be seen from founder of Everyone is Gay (a collection of voices lending advice to the LGBT community) Danielle Owens-Reid, who has recently launched her fashion platform Radimo La. The platform is a gender-fluid clothing marketplace and inclusion consulting agency dedicated to challenging the traditional standards of fashion and shopping. The brand also offers consulting to other clothing lines to help promote a more inclusive message regarding identity, gender, size and race.
With these examples of Jaden Smith, Harry Styles and fashion market places like Radimo La, Gender Fluid fashion is becoming more accepted in today’s mutable society. Maybe in the next 10 years we’ll see men wearing more skirts or even gender neutral clothing stores without a gender divide. If Facebook can cater for 58 different genders, anything is possible, right?
