I recently saw an article in the Evening Standard which highlighted London's finest dressed men with clutches. Yes, clutches. The petite and often impractical 'bag' likely to be tucked away in any it-girl's wardrobe was now being tucked under the arm of an it-boy. Seeing this, something that was once a statement piece of the elegant and sophisticated woman, now being used as an experimental accessory for men almost infuriated me. Honestly, the only type of man I could see with a clutch is the oh-so-extravagant Ollie Locke of E4's Made in Chelsea.
And so, this made me think, is the gender divide being gently eroded way by style hungry men? In a couple of seasons will there really be any differences between menswear and womenswear in the time to come? Can a man now slip on a dress and call it high fashion? After all, Richard Tisci almost did it with Givenchy 'skorts' in spring 2011.
Well, perhaps not so drastic, but you get the point. This is clearly not a fresh of the boat topic to discuss, but it still perplexes me. Do men just want to push out the boundaries of style further, like how women have done in the past? Also, I wonder, why do I personally feel that it's ok for women to be androgynous, but not men? Is it because androgyny is an action of endearment for women, after years of oppression? Is the end result of the Suffragettes' fight that women can now wear a 3 piece suit with oxfords and be called brilliantly daring? In fact, for most people it isn't even daring anymore. Now a man with a clutch tucked delicately under his arm, THAT is daring. Now take Annie Lenox - what a legend. For me, she is the epitomy of a 21st century female.
Emmeline Pankhurst and her clan have done well; there is really equality for women now. As feminists throw away their bras and assorted lingerie, female fashionistas don their bowler hats and bow ties. All in all, when I really think about it, androgyny and flamboyance with men shouldn't be such a surprise to me. Take Prince.
Now when I look at these photos, they definitely look good, but it just seems a little bit strange.
I love the androgyn style, botf for women and men. I think that somewhere people have started to realise that there are no actual differnence between boys and girls, it's only a physical thing, and that you can express that trough fashion, the designers just have to keep up with that thinking. A man don't have to be a drag-queen just because he's wearing a dress, it can be as stylish as when a woman wear a costume. I was on a fashionshow in a fancy mall like six months ago, and there the men had both skirts (over pants) and high heels.
ReplyDeletewhat makes me infuriating is the use of language regarding genders. Change the word order, place the woman/girl before the man and see what happens. In my case (wrote an annual record) no other topic was rising more eyebrows and questions, than why females are mentioned first.
ReplyDeletehere are my random thoughts:
what I am wondering is: why is Annie Lennox, Grace Jones, Marlene Dietrich Icons for gay men instead icons for strong women?
Why do women like to state MM the biggest icon of all times, while she was secretly playing the dumb naive blonde all her life despite her disgust?
Also, I wouldn‘t put too much logic in fashion. Women can still be oppressed in many ways, social, financial (e.g. earning less).. despite wearing a suit. (would they earn less, if they weren‘t?) The freedom to dress as a woman as you want, doesn‘t equal the freedom of men dressing however they want. Why?
Because I feel, whatever the man has taken (those icons, jobs in traditional female sector (hair-dresser, cook, stylist..), female attributes or symbols e.g. fashion, all of these initially female attributes remain a man's thing in the mind of the collective.
They are regarded better artists, stylists, cooks, eventually if they could give birth, they could better show one the world, no? afterall they made it and are more potent in any way, and not at least because the womens choice of her role model. And if there is no difference between women and men, there is just the mens view on the world. 1. because of the collective choice regarding men‘s work superior
2. womens choice to not make a difference.
Yeah, some of these photos looks a bit weird. ^^
ReplyDeleteI love ur blog, but I miss the old one <3
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