The constantly changing nature of fashion has always been focusing on newness or the illusion of something new and something different; signs and characteristics of male and female clothing are transient. Since the establishment of postmodern fashion and appearance of sub cultures men’s wardrobe has been continually appropriated by the fashion industry that most of the masculine garments have made its appearance with feminist design features or characteristics.
“Clothing is one of the most immediate ad effective examples of the way in which bodies are gendered, made feminine or masculine” (Entwistle 2000, 140-141)
Nowadays, majority of menswear designers have refitted and restyled feminine design features to suit the prevailing masculine fashionable silhouette. This combines with a wealth of design detail and historical references, provides a cyclical men’s fashion system with an endless supply of “regular novelty”. Yet despite of the fact that the wealth of inspiration and technique across both male and female clothing, the main concern of this research is the rapid increase of feminist characteristics in men’s fashion. As a matter of fact, this research wishes to answer the question, why menswear has largely drawn techniques and characteristics of traditional women’s fashion and also to discuss the future of menswear if the society adopts this trend of applying techniques traditionally associated with the production of female fashion to the production of contemporary menswear. This report also sheds light on connection between issues of design, gender and technique. At the same time I wish to present my ideas on how the adaption of feminist characteristics for men’s fashion can be achieved within the boundaries of the menswear genre.
Historical context on the adaption of feminist features in men’s fashion
Historically human society has distinguished between male and female by gender differentiation as identified by femininity and masculinity. Style, colour or type of clothing they wear had a set of norms, views, guidelines, or even laws defining what type of clothing is appropriate for each gender. However feminine design features have always existed in Men’s Fashion throughout much of the recorded costume history. Literary critic Ellen Moers, in The Dandy, her 1960’s exploration of dandyism from the late 1700 to 1950’s, stated:
“Legend is confused about the nature of [Brummell’s] style. The popular version has always been that he dressed too obviously well, with fantastic colours and frills, exotic jewels and perfumes.” (Davies H. 2008)
Cicolini (2005) has stated that the ‘Literary juxtaposition of Dandyism is that it has emerged during periods of intense uncertainty in relation to masculine identity: the 1780s crisis of Regency aristocracy, the 1890s scandal surrounding Wilde’s homosexuality, he 1950’s postwar wave of immigration and rise of the teenager and the 1970s era of liberation and Stonewall. Since 1980, Britain has witnessed the character of male change with whirlwind speed- The New Man, followed by the Loaded Lad and most recently, in the early twenty-first century, the metro sexual’. As far as the recent costume history is concerned, sub-cultures and emerging popular cultures have always had an impact on fashion. In the context of adaptation of feminist detailing in menswear, music genres played a major role in influencing the society in many aspects of fashion and styling of the time. There was a time when men were criticised if they crossed the gender boundaries regardless of their desire for style. These conventions of grooming all broke out when punk rock and grunge bands came into the scene. According to the website www.Fashionera.com, punk rock was one of the main anti-fashion and urban youth street cultures that was closely aligned with a music movement. Skinny jeans, studs and tight fitting shirts which were mainly associated with feminine clothing were popularised by the punk rock movement with regards to men’s fashion, challenging the conventional men’s attire. Famous punk rock bands at the time of the inception of this particular music movement in 1974 included Ramones, The Sex Pistols and The Clash. The band members wore ripped skin tight jeans, torn tee shirts and accessories such as bandanas for their live performances which was adopted by the fans of the movement. Glam Rock/ glitter rock is another revolutionary music movement which was an extreme of adapting feminist characteristics in to menswear. Queen, David Bowie, Iggy Pop and more recently Tokio Hotel and Adam Lambert are all idols of this music movement. It is during this time when Leather jackets and latex pants were introduced into men’s fashion. Since then sequins and embroidery were used in menswear which is now a very common sight in most of the menswear collections. Another example is Elvis Presley who wore flared pants (Bell-Bottoms) and suits in pastel hues. He also made famous clothing accessories with Jewells which was considered to be feminie at a time where other artists such as Jim Reeves wore traditionally masculine suits. In more recent history artists such as Milli Vanilli, New Kids on The Block and Michael Jackson added to the changing gender definition of fashion through the addition of burmuda pants, shirts and jackets with shoulder pads and sequins. This was also the period that colour television was being popularised across United States and Europe . The visual transmission of these artists and their fashions was made possible by media channels such as MTV and VH1. This enabled a larger population of young adults to adopt these trends in order to make modern fashion statement in sync with their idols. These were some of the example of how feminine characteristics were associated with the men’s fashion in the recent history. However there is an emergence of this phenomenon in the modern culture yet with more refinement than of the recent past.
Designers who challenged the gender boundaries:
“…in the animal kingdom, it is accepted that the male’s lustre outshines the females’. yet, within religious congregations and the law, in many faraway lands, from the popes to the sultans, from African kings to Balinese dancers, men do not know what trousers are, and still show a sense of finery, taste and embellishment.” (Baudot F., 2001)
Today mix and match of styles and design detailing that flirts with femininity is evident in menswear collections in every nook and corner of this fashion forward world. In order to position my research within an international context I have researched on few designers who have embraced feminine design characteristics and detailing in their menswear collections. In many occasions, these designers have mastered their technical skills in women’s wear; so that their curiosity of testing different techniques has made them use feminist design features in menswear. Some menswear collections with feminist characteristics have no life beyond the catwalk environment. However, it is important to define this topic with visual examples which would make it easier to identify the feminist elements used by designers in menswear.
“Post-metro sexuality, contemporary menswear tackles issues of masculinity, femininity and everything in between. As sexuality becomes less of an issue in society, menswear celebrates and supports this diversity” (Davis
Vivienne Westwood is one of the most innovative designers in the 20th century who has challenged herself in experimenting with new design techniques by pushing the boundaries of conventions in fashion. The utilisation of lace and satin fabrics (fabrics which were limited for women’s wear) along with implementing corsetry and drapery techniques clearly depicts that her design possibilities were not limited by gender.
Christian Dior’s menswear collections always featured feminist elements. Dior Homme usually draws up a picture of a man who is in skinny pants and who doesn’t mind threading the fine line being feminine. Feminist design detailing and silhouettes are not the only elements he applies into his menswear; he is also not hesitant to adapt feminine colours into his designs. There was one instance when he used hot pink for his tailored jackets. Dior Homme gold sequin jewel pants are a good example of a garment which has feminist characteristics in every aspect of it; fabric, silhouette, colours and the embellishments.
In addition to the above mentioned designers, many other designers have played with different feminist characteristics and detailing in their menswear collections. The images I have presented below are some of the interesting examples of femininity in menswear.
Considering the above facts and references, men’s fashion was strongly influenced by male feminization which is a result of popular culture and other sub- cultures. Gender bending or cross dressing; that is adapting dressing ways of the opposite sex, has been a sign of feminism or gay pride. So it is evident that this concept of cross dressing has now been brought forward by the designers as a mainstream trend to market their labels. As borders blur, markets merge, and cultures blend, androgyny seems to have found its way to global mainstream fashion. Furthermore, the readiness of customers to accept these trends was answered by the market research, adding plus points for the practicability of menswear characterised with feminine features.
Blurring of gender boundaries in expectation of marketing fashion is a matter which should be argued as the greatest concern today lies not in the failure to acknowledge the pleasure of Fashion, but on the contrary, in the tendency of Men losing his identity or masculinity by adapting too much of feminist dress styling. Furthermore, the question whether the customer are ready for this
“The postmodern gender carnival explores the significance of the play with gender signifiers in recent fashion. Gender border crossing in postmodern fashion represent a transcendence of gender boundaries, I argue that these have not disappeared but have simply been renegotiated. Despite the increasing frequency of gender border crossings in recent times, gender distinctions have not disappeared, but continue to reassert themselves in new configurations”. ‘(Appearance and Identity, Fashioning the Body in Postmodernity, Llewellyn Negrin)
No comments:
Post a Comment