70
arising at least inpart from a genuine shift in
societal attitudes.“Millennialsand,inparticu-
lar,GenerationZdon’t see traditional gender
roles and sexuality definitions as relevant to
how theyconstruct their identities,”saysLucie
Greene,worldwideInnovationGroupdirector
for themarketing and communications firm
J.WalterThompson.
As society has becomemore comfortable
with the likes of Laverne Cox, it has gotten
tougher to find a hot designer who is not
buckinghis-and-hers conventions.AsGreene
has observed, there’s “awhole slew of gender-
less labels cropping up.”These includeHood
by Air and Public School, two brands that
have helped carve out awhole new athleisure
market by appealing toboth genders,without
overtlymarketing toeitherone.ThesavvyU.K.
department storechainSelfridges,meanwhile,
recentlyopeneda“gender-neutral”pop-upzone
across three floorsof itsOxfordStreet flagship,
debuting scores of unisex collections.
At the high end of the genderfluidmarket
are East London designers Faye and Erica
Toogood,whoseminimalist,sculpturalgarments
arenamedafterprofessions—thePhotographer
Jacket, the FishmongerCoat—introducing a
littleworkplace politics into themix.Belgian
designerMats Rombaut,meanwhile,makes
all-naturalunisexsneakers that sell for$500on
MadisonAvenue.
Joining these more rarefied brands are
trendyupstarts suchasNewYork–based1.61,
whoseslogan is“Utilitarian.Uniform.Unisex.”
Thecompanymakesnattycasual-wearoutfits,
includingplainshirtsandmatchingdrawstring
pants,withamarketing strategy that seems to
be pegged to the idea that men andwomen
FINE ART IMAGES/HERITAGE IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES (SCIPIOAFRICANUS); DEAGOSTINI/GETTY IMAGES (JOANOF ARC); © PETERHORREE/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO (LOUIS XIV); POPPERFOTO/GETTY IMAGES (CALAMITY JANE);
© BETTMANN/CORBIS (FEMALE SOLDIER); © PICTORIAL PRESS LTD/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO (LENNOX); MICHAEL BUCKNER/NBC/NBCU PHOTO BANK (LETO); RANDY BROOKE/GETTY IMAGES FOR KANYEWEST YEEZY (WEST); KATYA
MOORMAN, KAREN L. DUNN FOR FONY/FASHIONORIGINS NEW YORK (FONY); LUCA TOMBOLINI/INDIGITALIMAGES.COM (HOOD BY AIR)
are equally inclined to shell out a thousand
bucks for an outfit you’dwear while reading
theSundaypaper.
At thewiggly-fingerendof the spectrum is
theLosAngeles–based69Worldwide,a“non-
gender,non-demographic”denimbrandwhose
signature look is amarqueelike stonewashed
onesie.Thecompany’scavernousunisexdresses
would scream boho chic if worn by Zooey
Deschanel,or “I’ve come topaint your house”
ifwornby someone slightlyburlier.
Both1.61and69Worldwiderepresentwhat
EmilyAnatole,co-authorofarecent
Cassandra
Report
trend study intoGeneration Z con-
sumer habits,believes is the futureof fashion:
totally genderless clothing that can be worn
in different ways or tweaked by both sexes,
“almost in theway that the school uniform is.”
For Mackswell Sherman, founder of
streetwear brandFONY, the school uniform
analogy is especially apt, in particular the
tendency for boys and girls alike to tuck,
hike, fold, stretch, and scrunch various bits
of theiruniforms inorder tomake them look,
well, less uniform. “There is unisex cloth-
ing and androgynous clothing, and there is
what we’re now doing,” he says, “which is
modular clothing.”
With the industry evolving so rapidly,
Sherman sayshe cannot imaginewhydesign-
erswouldnow restrict themselves to creating
clothing for a specific gender. “That’s just so
limiting,”he says.“On the other hand,Kanye
in a skirt—now, that’s progress.”
London-based writer
Boyd Farrow
once
experimentedwith a frilly blouse, but he ended
up looking like a large decorative lampshade.
Calamity Jane:
19th century, U.S.
Female soldier:
mid-20th century,
China
AnnieLennox:
1980s, U.K.
Jared Leto:
2014, U.S.
From left:
KanyeWest
shows his
new Yeezy
line in New
York City;
poncho and
leggings
from FONY;
jumpsuit
from Hood
by Air
