Unisex Clothing –Now and Then
- Apr 23, 2018
- 5 min read
According to the Oxford Dictionary, unisex means suitable for both sexes. This article will dwell into the idea of unisex clothing that is designed for both men and women alike and understand its advent.
Burrowing from John Berger’s statement that defined the society in the 1970’s; “men act, women appear” helps illuminate the vast contrast in the roles of both genders leading to very different clothing respectively. The men considered the dominant gender was active and the women were considered passive. In other words, men observe women and women are observed by men. This lopsided status of men and women can very easily traced by the clothing in the nineteenth century. The involvement of women with restrictive fashion and the disparity of men in comfort clothing illuminates the disparity in societal norms.
WHO refers to sex as the biological and physiological characteristics that define men and women, whereas, gender implies the socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women. It is important to understand sex and gender differently in order to decode the cultural constructs and fluidity within fashion.
Early Inspirations
Vogue mentions that Marlene Dietrich, was one of the first women buying suits from her husband’s tailor and wearing them in Hollywood in the 1930s. While other icons like Katharine Hepburn and Josephine Baker were even more early adapters of unisex clothing. Grace Jones and David Bowie are other major sensations that had major contributions in the movement of the gender-fluid aesthetic.
Trend at its peak
The term unisex clothing is said to be first used in 1968, while it emanation had begun much before with the rise of liberation movements. Movements like rational dress movement had already begun in the late 19th century in the middle and late Victorian era. This saw reformers proposing more practical clothing than the restrictive fashions of the time. The women deplored the use of constraining garments and proposed to switch to more constructive garments like trousers. However, it was too soon to bring a revolution as many women very still confined to their roles, but this spark was enough to stir a revolution in the coming times.
The following 100 years were the most progressive times than ever before. The world saw two world war and major upheavals leading to reformations. Industrialisation made mass fashion production possible like never before.
1960’s
The women's liberation movement that occurred in the late 1906’s had a pivotal role in mainstreaming unisex fashion. The crusades base lied more in philosophy than politics, it was held up by women of diverse backgrounds throughout the world. They questioned patriarchal hierarchies of social structure and the lack of women's independence in society.
This decade also experienced the rise of another non-conformist effort "alternative dressing.” Alternative is diverse with respect to mainstream, and is usually perceived to be outside the cultural norm. In general, “alt” fashion does not does not conform itself to widely popular style trends of the times. Thus, this lead the men to try newer colors (Peacock revolution) of self-expression and let women make bold choices. It was a decade that broke many fashion traditions, mirroring social movements during the time. A fresh perspective of feminist thinking was demanded in the late 1960s and persisted throughout the 1970s primarily in the United States and Britain.
Not all were skeptical of the futuristic trend of unisex clothing that took over the era, many designers that were far sighted quickly adopted it and converted the wave into commercial designs. French designer, Yves Saint Laurent and the American designer Halston both observed and embraced the changes that were happening in the society and the youth counterculture. They successfully adapted their design aesthetics to accommodate the changes that the market was aiming for.
Rudi Gernreich, an Austrian-born American fashion designer purposefully used his designs to advance his socio-political views. He designed the most controversial garment of its time-the monokini which had a fitted bottom of a swimsuit with only two strings attached to it to tie around the neck. He said “Cure our society of its sex hang up. To me, the only respect you can give to a woman is to make her a human being. Baring the breasts seemed logical in a period of freer attitudes, freer minds, and the emancipation of women.” This garment was not often worn publicly, but it spurred the wave of women liberation.
Eventually, the 1960s can be considered the decade in which unisex clothing became widely spread. This trend was a response to the youth revolution and women freedom movements.
Jo Paoletti, in her book Sex and Unisex: Fashion, Feminism, and the Sexual Revolution, revisits the trend and says, “unisex clothing was a baby-boomer corrective to the rigid gender stereotyping of the 1950s, itself a reaction to the perplexing new roles imposed on men and women alike by World War II.”
His or Her?
The 1990’s saw the world become a smaller place with the dawn of television and internet. The worldwide net acted as the breeding ground for cross cultural trends across borders. Suddenly the Korean idea of couple clothing known as the Keo-Peul-Look became very famous in the western world. This again bought in a fresh wave of men-dressing-like-women-dressing-like-men. This in turn lead to a lot of commercialisation of similar clothing sets for men and women.
Today, we see men and women both wearing shirts and pants as they are considered appropriate for either gender. Fashion has become liberal and fluid and with that, the context of unisex clothing has also progressed. We have quickly travelled away from a time where even T-shirts were considered unisex to a time where men like Jaden Smith pose in skirts for mainstream fashion brands.
Drawing from the recent times, many popular fashion brands have backed unisex lines and capsule collection. Guess launched a lineup of gender fluid tees and jackets, while Zara debuted a gender-neutral collection called Ungendered in 2016. Also fast fashion brand H&M did not chose to be left alone and rolled out a 20 piece collection of unisex denim.
For SS18, many haute couturers like Thom Browne and Viviene Westwood have also taken the plunge. Browne sent down men in pleated maxis and mini kilts, paired with traditional ties. Westwood’s male models paraded the ramp in a range of dresses, including a series of prom gowns. Online fashion brands like 69, Kowtow, and The Kooples encourage sex-swapping in their product categories.
Sometimes we are left to wonder whether all this had led to liberation or confusion. Perhaps the fashions of the 1960s and 1970s articulated many questions about sex and gender but in the end provided no final answers. Sigmund Freud once said, “When you meet a human being, the first distinction you make is ‘male or female?’ and you are accustomed to make the distinction with unhesitating certainty.” Clearly today’s era of transformed gender norms and erratic clothing preferences would have dismantled his beliefs.
References
CHRISMAN-CAMPBELL, K., 2015. A Brief History of Unisex Fashion. [Online] [Accessed 20 April 2018].
Oetojo, J. O., 2016. Consumer Perception on Gender Equality and Designer Performance for Genderless Fashion Brands. Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities ., Vol. 24 (Special Issue), pp. p137-146 10p.
Paoletti, J. B., 2005. Sex and Unisex: Fashion, Feminism, and the Sexual Revolution. s.l.:Indiana University Press.
Steven Vertovec, R. C., 2002. Conceiving Cosmopolitanism: Theory, Context and Practice. 2 ed. s.l.:Oxford.
IMAGE REFERENCES
1. Original Artwork. Image Borrowed – Baja East Resort 2016
2. MTVFora
3. Fashionlady
4. Thom Browne - Vogue
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