On a visit home, I was accused by my brother of stealing his shirt. After several minutes, and one small argument, we came to the conclusion that, embarrassingly, we both own the same shirt. It’s just one of a long list of clothes that seem to breach the gender gap – brogues, chinos and a Breton tee make a perfectly stylish outfit for a guy or a girl. Could it be that gender is becoming less and less important in fashion?
Androgyny in the fashion world is by no means a new thing; the likes of David Bowie, Prince and Annie Lennox were all doing it before most of us were even born. However, now more than ever you can see the crossover in men’s and women’s fashions not just on celebrities and the catwalk, but on the high street too.
This April, high-street gods H&M introduced their latest Fashion against AIDS collection. The entire range was completely gender neutral and the campaign had stars such as Akon and Selma Blair modelling the collection of sporty vests and tees. The concept behind the collection was to show no discrimination by gender to draw attention to the fact that AIDS can affect both men and women. One store who have always been big on cross-gender clothing is American Apparel. A quick search for “unisex” on their website brings up 1132 matching items, a mix of simple tees, sporty shorts and even a colourful array of Y-fronts! While some items are admittedly more suited to one gender than the other (I don’t know many males who could pull of the bright green jersey hotpants), the majority of their unisex items look equally good on their male and female models.
Just last September, another line of unisex clothes was released upon the fashion world. Boyfriend/girlfriend is a range created by designer Rachel Pally and her boyfriend Kevin Circosta. The pair model their own range of vintage-look tees and shirts in a mildly nauseating collection of loved-up photos. Regardless of the overly romantic modelling, the pair show how workable their clothes really are for either gender. However, Pally warns women not to overdo the androgynous look if the want to avoid a ‘sloppy silhouette’.
So don’t be put off those shoes because your girlfriend has something similar, and don’t be afraid to wear your housemate’s comfy jumper in public. It seems androgyny is a look we can’t avoid, so it’s time to embrace it.