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Why Gender Fluid Dressing is More Than Just a Fashion Fad

We investigate why degendered fashion is more just the seasons latest accessory.

Of all the world-changing, heart-breaking and rage-inducing moments of 2020, it was a dress that sent the internet into meltdown.

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Pop icon Harry Styles appeared on the cover of a magazine wearing a Gucci gown โ€“ a ruffled periwinkle number paired with a cropped tuxedo jacket โ€“ and sparked headlines, hero worship and hatred alike. Many applauded his bold statement and flouting of gender norms; others declared that a cisgender, straight white man didnโ€™t deserve to spearhead this cultural conversation; and conservative commentators wept for the patriarchy (โ€œBring back manly men,โ€ tweeted far-right American pundit Candace Owens).

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(Credit: Getty Images)

Styles responded by draping himself in feminine frills, feather boas and strings of pearls at every photo opportunity thenceforth.

โ€œI think whatโ€™s exciting about right now is you can wear what you like,โ€ he later told a reporter. โ€œIt doesnโ€™t have to be X or Y. Those lines are becoming more and more blurred.โ€

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Gender-fluid dressingโ€”breaking the boundaries between clothing tradiยญtionally worn by women and menโ€”is nothing new. In Ancient Greece and Rome, everybody wore togas and tunics. In the 1970s and โ€™80s, performers such as David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Annie Lennox and Grace Jones experimented with gender-bending style; and minority communitiesโ€”Black, queer, trans and Latinxโ€”have long dressed outside the box, laying the groundwork for todayโ€™s movement.

But while Stylesโ€™ femme foray wasnโ€™t the first, it wasโ€”as he himself once sangโ€”a sign of the times.

In 2020, London Fashion Week went gender-neutral, merging womenswear and menswear into one single showcase. Recent Louis Vuitton collections have seen countless men on the catwalk wearing kilts, dresses and skirts. The houseโ€™s late artistic director of menswear, Virgil Abloh, simply described it as a โ€œhuman approachโ€ to dressing.

Often, the runway reflects real life, and this rapid rise of non-binary fashion into the mainstream coincides with a wider discussion about identity and expression. Namely, what does gender even mean?

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โ€œWhile sex is biologยญically determined at birth, gender is something thatโ€™s socially and culturally constructed,โ€ explains Dr Alexandra Sherlock, lecturer in fashion theory at RMIT University.

โ€œItโ€™s something that we learn. Thereโ€™s nothing natural or essential about gender.โ€ 

Instead, the term refers to how an individual feels and identifies. That might be as a man, as a woman or as non-binary: somewhere on the specยญtrum in between. It may be fixed or fluid, and itโ€™s separate from sexuality.

The term โ€œnon-binaryโ€ was offiยญcially added to the Collins Dictionary in late 2019, and in 2021 it was introยญduced to the national census, meaning statistics on non-binary Australians are still unavailable.

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An estimated 1.2 million Americans identify as non-binary, although the figure could be much higher. Gender nonconforming people have existed since the beginยญning of timeโ€”Joan of Arc in 15th-century France, and Australiaโ€™s First Nations Sistergirls and Brotherboys, who are part of the longest living trans cultures on earthโ€”yet many individuยญals are only now finding the words to express themselves.

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(Credit: Getty Images)

On the red carpet, actor Billy Porter and non-binary Queer Eye host Jonathan Van Ness have led the way in subverting gender norms, turning up in ballooning ball gowns and racy, sheer skirts. Lil Nas X, a queer Black man, is shaking up the hip-hop scene in beaded bodysuits and hot-pink cowboy boots, while rapper Kid Cudi wore a white, floral dress on Saturday Night Live.

Even hetero lothario Pete Davidson, he who inspired โ€œBig Dick Energyโ€, wore a tunic to the 2021 Met Gala.

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Broadening the idea of what it means to be a manโ€”via fashion, in this instanceโ€”could even help break the cycle of toxic masculinity.

โ€œIn the West, our conception of masculinity is very narrow,โ€ says fashion lecturer Sang Thai, Sherlockโ€™s colleague at RMIT.

In Asian cultures, he continues, thereโ€™s a long and rich tradition of men wearing skirts, and these cultures often adopt a more nuanced view of gender, rather than our rigid, polarised and often damaging binaries.

But as gender-fluid fashion takes hold, authenticity will be the greatest challenge.

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โ€œThe industry has to engage with this in a genuine and meaningful way,โ€ says Sherlock.

โ€œAs with [any minority identity or community], you shouldnโ€™t [just] design for them or take inspiration from them. There needs to be opportunities for trans and gender-diverse/non-conforming people to represent themselves โ€“ to be included in that story, to be employed and to be in positions of power.โ€

Whacking a rainbow on a pair of sneakers for Pride Week or advertising a frock for men isnโ€™t enough if a brand isnโ€™t doing the work behind the scenes.

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โ€œDoes the company have queer employยญees? Do they have safety guards for trans employees?โ€ asks Deni Todoroviฤ, activist, creative director and co-host of the What Are You Wearing podcast, addยญing that, in Australia, transgender youth aged 14-25 are 15 times more likely to attempt suicide than the genยญeral population.

โ€œAre they working with and donating to queer charities? If not, theyโ€™re just capitalising off a minority, and thatโ€™s not nice.โ€

Todoroviฤ points to gender-fluid British-American designer Harris Reed as a leader in the space, but says that locally they shop everywhere from Camilla to Kmart. Theyโ€™d like to see separate menswear and womenswear sections eradicated in stores, and to โ€œdegender fashion at every touchpointโ€.

Perhaps Generation Z will lead this binary-busting charge. According to one study, half of that cohort (aged 10 to 25) believe that the gender binary is outdated.

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โ€œItโ€™s important to remember that thereโ€™ll always be binaries and theyโ€™re still part of the same gender spectrum,โ€ notes Sherlock.

โ€œBut my Gen-Z students give me hope. Theyโ€™re thinking about ways they can use fashยญion for positive social and cultural change, as opposed to reproducing the conventions that have gone before.โ€

Today, Todoroviฤ feels energised to live a life beyond the binary, in โ€œthe space in-betweenโ€, as they like to call it.

โ€œFor me, degendering fashion is not about erasing another personโ€™s identity, itโ€™s about pulling up a seat at the table so thereโ€™s room for all of us. You have to get dressed every day, so why shouldnโ€™t it be fun for everyone?โ€

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Right now, theyโ€™re wearing basketยญball shorts, a Bonds chesty and sneakยญers, but tonight theyโ€™ll throw on a floaty dress and chunky heels. Tomorrow it could either be tailored trousers or a tulle tutu skirt.

โ€œSome people might find that confusing but thatโ€™s OK,โ€ they say. โ€œItโ€™s how I feel, itโ€™s who I am.โ€

This story originally appeared in the February issue of marie claire Australia.

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