Gender neutral fashion lines: the new normal
Everything you need to know about fashion's love affair with unisex get-up and its champions
Ezra Miller for Playboy
On 14 November 2018, Ezra Miller, lips painted with the deepest black, shuffled down the red carpet of the Fantastic Beasts Premiere in a (now completely sold out) floor-length, Moncler x Pierpaolo Piccioli puffer dress. Crowds took a sharp, collective breath, while many a-blogger and journalist pounded keyboards with the shock of a male-presenting celebrity paying no mind to gender-norms.
But, gender-neutral clothing is, or at least is soon to be, the new normal. More and more designers are opting to create neutral lines. Think Charles Jeffrey and his label Loverboy, Celine Dion's new childrenswear brand Celinununu, and the recent collaboration between ASOS x GLAAD.
Ezra Miller at the Fantastic Beasts Premiere
Gender-bending is by no means new. 'I am at heart a gentleman.' So said Marlene Dietrich, the original It Girl – in the truest sense of the term – whose glamour, celestial beauty, and electrifying subversion set 1930s Berlin alight. She paired tuxedos with beaded eyelashes, demolished sexual norms, blew cigar smoke in Hitler's face.
Before Audrey Hepburn starved herself into a fawn, and Marilyn Monroe had a thing about saxophone players, Dietrich was waltzing between the masculine and feminine, flirting with each, embracing both. It is difficult to convey the impact that this display of androgyny would have had on polite society in the '30s. The world gazed on in awe.
Lady Gaga wears oversized SS19 Marc Jacobs suit
So what's next?
Well, we think genderfluid fashion is so much more than a passing trend. It is living, breathing proof of the shift in our attitude to gender. In a recent poll, fifty-six percent of thirteen-to-twenty-year-olds said that they knew someone who went by gender neutral pronouns such as 'they', 'them', or 'ze', compared to forty-three percent of people aged twenty-eight to thirty-four years old. It is unlikely that young people will leave their fluid attitudes on gender and sexuality behind as they get older.
Genderfluidity is no longer taboo. There's no 'his', anymore, no 'hers': just 'ours'. What was once radical transgression – a performance – is now an accepted norm. No more masks, no more costumes. Amen to that.
But, gender-neutral clothing is, or at least is soon to be, the new normal. More and more designers are opting to create neutral lines. Think Charles Jeffrey and his label Loverboy, Celine Dion's new childrenswear brand Celinununu, and the recent collaboration between ASOS x GLAAD.
Ezra Miller at the Fantastic Beasts Premiere
Gender-bending is by no means new. 'I am at heart a gentleman.' So said Marlene Dietrich, the original It Girl – in the truest sense of the term – whose glamour, celestial beauty, and electrifying subversion set 1930s Berlin alight. She paired tuxedos with beaded eyelashes, demolished sexual norms, blew cigar smoke in Hitler's face.
Before Audrey Hepburn starved herself into a fawn, and Marilyn Monroe had a thing about saxophone players, Dietrich was waltzing between the masculine and feminine, flirting with each, embracing both. It is difficult to convey the impact that this display of androgyny would have had on polite society in the '30s. The world gazed on in awe.
Lady Gaga wears oversized SS19 Marc Jacobs suit
So what's next?
Well, we think genderfluid fashion is so much more than a passing trend. It is living, breathing proof of the shift in our attitude to gender. In a recent poll, fifty-six percent of thirteen-to-twenty-year-olds said that they knew someone who went by gender neutral pronouns such as 'they', 'them', or 'ze', compared to forty-three percent of people aged twenty-eight to thirty-four years old. It is unlikely that young people will leave their fluid attitudes on gender and sexuality behind as they get older.
Genderfluidity is no longer taboo. There's no 'his', anymore, no 'hers': just 'ours'. What was once radical transgression – a performance – is now an accepted norm. No more masks, no more costumes. Amen to that.
TRY CULTURE WHISPER
Receive free tickets & insider tips to unlock the best of London — direct to your inbox