Progressively, society has become more comfortable
with sex and sexual identities but there are still the stereotypes if a man
cries at times he’s less masculine, if a woman tries to assert herself she’s
less feminine. When Dr. Sandra Bem (an American psychologist known
for her works in androgyny and gender
studies) developed the concept of androgyny,neither clearly masculine nor clearly feminine in appearance,
we are choosing to express that part of our uniqueness.To what extent are society’s boundaries changing if
the stigma of men and women being restricted to certain colors, patterns and
prints exist? Why do so many of us believe those styles to be “off
limits” to the opposite sex? In modern times, masculine-feminine boundaries are
blurred and gender-blurring fashion is in. Our gender roles affect almost every
aspect of our lives, but should they play a r
We use
clothing as a visual aid to communicate our ideas about our bodies,
personalities, and gender identities. Our fashion choices present a shorthand
clue about who we are; it signals our membership in a particular group. It’s a
way for neighbors, colleagues and people on the street to size us up. What
we're wearing is likely one of the first things we notice when we meet one
another. People pass judgment all the
time, assuming that how a woman dresses can invite certain things like rape or
abuse. It also assumes that if a man wears saggy pants and angles his cap a
certain way, that he is up to no good. Androgyny can apply to any or
none of those categories; displaying certain
sexual characteristics can cause presumptions. I can’t help but to think if the
main function of clothing is to literally cover up or hide our sex, then is the
main focus of fashion is to exploit our gender? The clothes we wear let the
outside world know who we are, and there is a lot of room to play with that.
Men can become queens, women can be kings, but with androgyny, it can all be
left a mystery.
The aim of the androgynous clothing movement
is to prove that fashion doesn’t need to be separated by gender. It’s about
fighting simplistic labels rather than creating them. Fashion can be a
reflection of society, and sometimes fashion is ahead of society, in this case androgyny
is a few steps ahead. With androgynous fashion becoming more and more popular the
“ideal woman” that has usually been reflected as cleavage, long legs, shiny skin,
and va-va-voom, are now allowed to take back their sexuality and strength, and
not make it about wearing something traditionally gendered. Men can play with
different styles and not be ridiculed about their sexuality or manliness. It
would be a beautiful thing if we could all just wear what we wanted, without it
meaning something.
Here is a
quote by Casey Legler, an androgynous model who is the first women to be signed
exclusively as a male model for Ford Models, Casey says “What I wish is that we
all get to be exactly who we are. And sometimes that’s complicated. We have
very specific ways in which we identify ourselves as man or woman and I think
that sometimes those can be limiting. Seeing me on the men’s board … speaks to
the notion of freedom, you know. There’s something really bold about that, and
that it really is saying look, there is also this other way, and it’s really
rad.” 
If we can
start to understand fashion as a means to influence our own gender understanding
and step outside the implications of gender, we can better recognize the
importance of the power that fashion has on societal gender views and its
control over not only individuality, but culture as well. It is through
fashion, clothing choice and personal style, that we can manipulate the gender
presumptions and carve out our own personal stylized gender identity. Let’s
take gender out of fashion.
Fashion for thought:
1.) Do you think androgynous fashion is a reflection of
mans masculinity?
2.) Can women still be perceived as being sexy if she
blends men’s inspired fashion with her own gender style?
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