69
H
emlinesarehigh this season,soguys
mightwant to tone up those calves.
Meanwhile, chunky high-tops are
seeing a revival, sowomenwill probablywant
to stockupon athletic socks.
If you’ve been anywhere near a fashion
magazine over the last fewmonths, you’ll
knowwhatwemean.Theheadlining fashion
trend for springwill not emerge frommens-
wear or womenswear, we’re told, but from
somewhere inbetween.Brands ranging from
Gucci toKanyeWest’s new streetwear label,
Yeezy, are set to launch collections that are
being calledgenderfluid.
Vogue
, never one tomiss out on a trend, is
gushing about how “athletic midriff-baring
tops” speak “to the ambisexual vibe rever-
berating in menswear,” while pop-culture
journal
Dazed&Confused
is so consumed by
all the “pussy-bow blouses, shrunken knits,
and peekaboo lace”hittingmenswear shelves
that it suggested that industry fashionweeks
should simplygocoed.Reveling in theerosion
One StyleFitsAll
The fashion industry embraces nongendered clothing
by boyd farrow illustrat ion by stephen cheetham
of conventional boundaries, Kanye himself
has appeared onstage rocking a black leather
Givenchy skirt,which oddlymakes him look
moremacho thanRussellCrowe in
Gladiator
.
Historically, unisex clothing has tended
toward something seemingly inspired by the
Chinese Communist Party pantsuit circa
1949,which boils down to everyone looking
like a man (a style rarely seen today, except
during Pyongyang Fashion Week). The
slightlymore glamorous sibling of unisex is
androgyny,whichhas flaredupwithinvarious
pop-cultural movements over the years—the
frillsand flounceof the1980sNewRomantics,
the sexual ambiguityofmascara-smearedemo
kids in the dying days of the 20th century.
Today,however,thespirit inwhich fashionistos
and fashionistasareblurring thegender line is
moving away from shock value and toward a
collective shrug.BoyGeorge is fast becoming
theboynext door.
This trend, rather than being driven by
the fashion-industrial complex,appears tobe
Androgyny
Through
theAges
Publius Cornelius
ScipioAfricanus:
3rdCenturyB.C.,
Rome
Joanof Arc: 15th
century, France
King LouisXIV:
17th century,
France
UNISEX
