The androgynous look is back and taking the world by storm as the phenomenon spreads from the fashion world to celebrities to Piccadilly Circus and beyond. For decades, women’s fashion has mimicked menswear and its aesthetics, from tailored trousers to tuxedo vests. But now, the boys are also borrowing from the girls, with both avant-garde and established designers leading the unisex way for both sexes.
Jean Paul Gaultier has released a string of ads featuring models in gender-bending roles, with guys in slimming skinnies and women in baggy “boyfriend” style denim. Miuccia Prada has designed skirts for men; Gucci, velvet scarves and skinny gypsy pants for its models. Newer designers Alexander Wang and Rick Owens have featured draped fabrics, slim cardigans and narrowly cut trousers in their collections of the season. But the androgynous look doesn’t stop at the catwalk. Unisex clothing lines are being rolled out by Topshop and Urban Outfitters as the trend hits the mainstream and is even more widely embraced by celebrities.
The usually feminine Victoria Beckham was featured sporting a boxy, dark-blue three-piece suit in a recent issue of Harper’s Bazaar. Keira Knightley and Kirsten Dunst have experimented with boyfriend dressing while Rihanna has been seen on and off the stage with military jackets cut by Balmain — a look that accents her blunt and boyish hairstyle.
patrick Wolf
Male celebrities have taken the trend even further: androgynous boy songbird Mika and Brit multi-instrumentalist and ingénue Patrick Wolf (who was in an advertising campaign for Burberry) picking up fashion and makeup from the ladies and leaving everyone guessing as to their true sexuality.
Many fashion stylists, magazine editors and designers, from Slimane’s Dior Homme replacement Kris van Assche to YSL designer Stefano Pilati to Balenciaga’s Nicholas Ghesquiere, are toeing the new line and riding the wave of hermaphroditic inspiration to push the sexuality envelope even more.
Ghesquiere, for example, has popularised the aesthetic of moving clothing away from the body and favouring stiffness and structure over flimsy femininity. New York’s Alexander Wang, in turn, has done the oversized men’s blazer thing and delivered a new twist to the masculine staples of denim cut-offs and simple T-shirts.
It’s clear: androgynous fashion has taken root and is thriving. More and more boys and girls, boyfriends and girlfriends are swapping clothes and saving a pretty penny in the process. Whether straight men and women will ever meet for one-on-one manicures with his-and-her nail polish, all the while exchanging gossip, relationship advice, fashion tips and favourite online dating sites, is another matter entirely (and may be a cause for concern).
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