Ever since David Beckham was photographed wearing a sarong, if not before, we have seen an increasingly blurred divide between men’s and women’s clothing. The days of ‘blue are for boys and pink is for girls’ are long behind us as forward-thinking fashion brands continue to introduce a far more fluid approach to gender than seen ever before.
The Growth of the Gender-Free Movement
Of course, femininity and flamboyance have never been restricted to just womenswear. Think about some of the outfits previously worn by Mick Jagger and David Bowie. They can hardly be described as conservative. Even royalty in the 17th century was known for its frills and decorativeness.
The fact is that designers have been playing around with the idea of gender-neutrality for many years, but previously this resulted mainly in headline-grabbing attention rather than designs that could suit customers and actually end up being available for sale.
In recent times, designers have been tapping into the growing belief that gender boundaries are an outdated concept, and the catwalks are awash with designs that blur the traditional gender divide.
New labels, as well as many household designer names, have been displaying gender-neutral clothing, demonstrating the global appetite for neutrality when it comes to clothing. And the changing face of contemporary fashion appears to be paying off in the shops too.
Some brands have already introduced unisex collections aimed at men and women and are moving away from traditional store layouts which differentiate between men’s and women’s clothing.
An example of this could be Farah shirts, such as those seen at https://www.ejmenswear.com/men/farah/shirts, which were previously seen strictly in the domain of men’s clothing but could now be worn just as stylishly by people of any gender.
The Fluid Future of Fashion
With gender identity being the perception of gender an individual identifies with rather than the sex they were assigned at birth, there is now much more research being undertaken by organizations such as the Office for National Statistics.
However, the fluid approach already being seen in the fashion world looks set to stay. While it is unlikely to mean we will see men raiding women’s wardrobes or women raiding men’s any time soon, undoubtedly there is an appetite for far greater fluidity in clothing, and this surely points the way for the future.
