By: Michaela Gonzalez, Staff Writer
Fashion: it is everywhere we look. It is how we politely function as a society/civilization and keep our body warm and protected from the outside world. To some people it may be to just avoid nakedness, but for others it is to express themselves and their highest self identity, while telling the story of both us and our history. Each sock, neckline, jewel, shawl, button, sleeve length, and texture can classify yourself into a specific group and movement. Your style can cultivate a progressive change, such as women starting to wear pants in the mid-19th century to demonstrate their desire to feel equal to men.
Despite knowing the significance of a piece of clothing and style which can dictate various ideas, society norms have limited our personal self identity to our assigned gender from birth. Before the last few hundred years, men have been known to wear skirts and long dresses such as in ancient Greek and Roman times. But more recently, women have worn one thing and men have worn another. Society completely ignored the possibility of a person existing as neither a man or a woman. Anyone that went against this norm were instantly criminalized and discriminated against by the dominant culture, never intersecting, and never questioning why we were raised to dress one way solely based on our gender. Never questioning why our genders have one style to pertain to, and why we have to follow them. Why do I have to wear a dress because I was born a girl and have to exhibit femininity? If I identify as a boy and want to wear a blouse, why can’t I? These are the questions many designers, influencers, and brands have thought of, and have happily contradicted them.
Many designers have fashioned articles of clothing that go against the “gender norm”. Harry Lambert famously dressed Harry Styles in an elaborate dress when he appeared for Vogue’s first male-solo cover. In the accompanying article, Styles stated, “Clothes are there to have fun and to play with…. I’ll go into shops sometimes, and I just find myself looking at women’s clothes thinking they’re amazing…. -anytime you are putting up barriers in your life, you’re just limiting yourself.” Another international artist breaking the same barriers are k-pop sensation BTS. They have been known for redefining the line of masculinity and femininity through their clothing, music expression, and performance techniques. One of their many non-traditional photoshoots include one in 2016 for Singles Magazine where they wore dresses, lace, and fishnets, which are considered “feminine”. Lastly, the creator of the #degenderfashion movement is writer, activist, and public speaker Alok V Menon. They are known to speak out against the limiting images of normalized masculinity and femininity. With this, they express their self-identity by dressing themselves with bright and unique pieces without the barriers of gender in mind, simply creating outfits for creativity and style.
This movement is taking a step toward needed gender-neutrality that has been long overdue. Fashion is a source of the ultimate individual artistic self-expression, and degendering it will bring style to it’s highest potential. What we wear as we know it, can cultivate a progressive change.
