Jakarta -
Fashion is a dynamic thing, constantly changing and evolving all the time. One of the fashion concepts that has become increasingly popular lately is the concept of genderless fashion. It's a style of clothing that is free of masculine and feminine preferences. This style is also known as gender-neutral fashion and is often called the androgynous style.
Fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli pioneered gender-neutral clothing back in the early 1930s, where she cut skirts to make culottes for couture collections. Also, since the 1970s, this style of clothes has been used by musicians like David Bowie, Prince, Patt Smith, and Annie Lenox. Nowadays, some celebrities have been applying this style, like Billy Porter, Harry Styles, Janelle Monáe, Ezra Miller, and many more.
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Apart from the celebrities mentioned above, Oumagz stated that this androgynous style was popularized by Yves Saint Laurent's Le Smoking collection back in the 1960s. Moreover, in Indonesia, numerous people have already been brave enough to wear gender-neutral and androgynous as their identities, namely Darell Ferhostan and Ajeng Dewi Swastiari.
This style is increasingly liberating and has been absorbed in Indonesian society today that involves t-shirts, hoodies, oversized blazers, and jeans that are wearable for all genders. For example, a local brand that embeds this style in their products is One-Off Ones. On the FW 21 Collection, 'Simulacra Simulation' they didn't design their pieces with any gender in mind. The entire collection was shot on both female and male models to reinforce the fluidity of its collection.
So, we can conclude that nowadays, brands and customers are veering towards genderless fashion. Countless figures and designers have pushed the discourse of dressing without the confinement of gender limitations further. Though it hasn't reached the point of normalcy yet, more people have already become more open in embracing the freedom of how to dress. Genderless fashion has shifted perceptions and challenged the notions of masculinity and femininity.
As stated by Dawn Karen, MA, Ed. Mc, a fashion psychologist and a founder of the Fashion Psychology Institute, this clothing style is more about perceptions of clothing. According to him, technological advances can open up to things we don't know about, like the styles of Victorian-era dress. While there's so much unknown about the culture that animates this style, consumers wear Victorian styles based on their knowledge. Thus, this style can be chosen freely and openly by society.
The Binary opposition between masculine and feminine are no longer applies in genderless fashion. It's all about freedom of style in dressing without the fear of expressing your own identity. The more important thing is that gender-neutral fashion beats the outdated gender fashion norms, which is quite groundbreaking. Because as we all know, there are no written rules as to how we need to dress, right??
(NAS/MEL)
