Fashion

The evolution of unisex fashion

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We want to be different, but we also want to be the same. And this is where unisex fashion comes in. Recently, the issue of unisex is hot, having become the battleground of terrible ideological battles. According to the dictionary, "unisex" would be both male and female garments or clothing, end of the controversy. But no, because who decides what is masculine and feminine and what fashion objects are embodied in is, precisely, the fiery object of contention. In fact, the word "unisex" was coined in the 1960s. The magazines of those decades are filled with bucolic images of women and men embraced in plastic poses wearing the same flared pants and the same hideous synthetic shirt. Wearing the same outfit was promoted as "the greatest act of love."

Photo Credit: Bazaar

The evolution of unisex fashion

It is not just a matter of gender and sexual rights; fashion has a deep fascination with doubles. In history, it serves to separate what God has united: social classes, sexual genders, social status. In contrast to this notion, unisex clothing refers to a single aesthetic for both men and women, which we could summarize as 'nu jeans and 'na t-shirt. Usually, we tend to confuse gender subversion with unisex. Were caveman furs unisex? Apparently not. "Postmodern" designers and stylists such as Jean Paul Gaultier, John Galliano and Walter Van Beirendonck have rebelled against gender norms to offer us transgressive and sexualized fashion. But unisex clothing is more concerned with the union of menswear and womenswear into one streamlined entity and, therefore, offers equality rather than rebellion.

Photo Credit: Bazaar

The evolution of unisex fashion

Throughout the twentieth century, unisex clothing has served different functions and served different political agendas. From the futurist offerings of Thayat - pseudonym of artist and designer Ernesto Michahelles - in 1919, inventor of the "Jumpsuit," to the Swinging Sixties breaking the rigid gender boundaries of dress. Designer Rudi Gernreich, who thought fashion was a pathology, showed an affinity for unisex clothing, although his monokini does anything but undo sexual difference. On the contrary, it enhances it. Unisex clothing has been reborn in recent haute couture collections, with designers creating clothes for men and women and modeling them androgynously in fashion editorials. The 2020 pandemic seems to have accelerated this trend. Progressive and positive, according to advocates of overcoming gender in clothing and society, an ominous sign of the end of civilization for Karl Lagerfeld. Your choice.

Photo Credit: Bazaar

The evolution of unisex fashion
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