Irrelevance as an achievement

Fashion is never simply functional clothing or obscure art; it is always a measure of the social fabric. As such, it has reflected and driven forward the gender debate. The fact that transgender models such as Hari Nef, Nathan Westling, Lea T and Krow Tian strutting along international catwalks is now somewhat matter of course, and that well-known models such as the Belgian Hanne Gaby Odiele openly declare themselves intersex, is the result of a long-overdue development.

It is almost impossible to imagine today, but a hundred years ago the concept of gender – at least as a socially acceptable convention – existed only in the binary. You were either male or female. At the same time, heterosexuality was the only acceptable norm and dress codes were similarly clear-cut, with women in dresses and skirts and men – literally – wearing the trousers. That a female Chancellor can now choose to wear a suit (or not), is an achievement that fashion, too, helped bring about. If Coco Chanel had not broken with tradition about a hundred years ago and put trousers on women, the old coat and skirt combination might still be mandatory to this day.

“That a female Chancellor can now choose to wear a suit (or not), is an achievement that fashion, too, helped bring about.”

Alex Bohn

The Loewe and Marni collections for spring and summer 2022 feature men wearing skirts and floor-length dresses, which also represents a desire for equality where men, too, are allowed to be a part of what has traditionally been a female domain. Because when it comes to this, women are slightly ahead in fashion. Although they may not have yet closed the gender pay gap, it is more normal to see them wearing the whole range of traditionally male clothing, something which is not yet the case the other way round. While the singer Kurt Cobain may have donned floral dresses and kilts as far back as the 1990s and rapper A$AP Rocky now opts for traditionally feminine clothing as he pleases, you still do not see any men in skirts or dresses on Wall Street or in parliament. The issue of gender is not yet quite so irrelevant in everyday life, and so fashion must continue to pave the way. Talking about his dresses and skirts for men, the Belgian Raf Simons said: “I think it’s important to design this fashion now, because so many men are buying women’s clothing at the moment. But the question is whether they are buying women’s clothing made for men or clothing that is made for men and women.”

Fit, not gender, is what will matter in the future

It is interesting to see that some brands that previously specialized in men’s or women’s fashion are now, of all times, launching collections for the other gender. These include the Japanese brand Issey Miyake, which launched its new men’s label “IM” in March, the US brand The Row, which has previously only ever designed women’s fashion, and the Scandinavian men’s fashion brand Asket. Its co-founder August Bard-Bringéus firmly believes that what will matter in the future is the perfect fit, not gender: “For years, we have seen that more and more women are buying from us,” he said. No wonder: the Swedish brand’s collection features classics in men’s fashion that are just as relevant to women such as straight-line t-shirts, wool and cashmere jumpers, Oxford shirts, chinos and jeans. Its men’s fashion also appeals to women because of how the clothes fit. “As well as clothing sizes, you can also choose different lengths for our items,” said August Bard-Bringéus, “and so our fashion fits a whole variety of body types.” In his view, the fact that the idea of binary gender boundaries is obsolete and fashion is more inclusive and diverse is an essential, long-overdue development. At the same time, just like Raf Simons, who takes this aspect into account in his collection for both genders, he firmly believes that fashion is always measured by its fit. After all, even if it no longer matters what gender a person identifies with, their body in and of itself is still important. Designing fashion that fits diverse body types has always been and remains one of the purposes of fashion.