VP 2019-07 DARREN ESPANTO DIGITAL

Recent years have witnessed a
groundbreaking turn of events as labels
welcome ​androgyny into their fold. Even Rei
Kawakubo’s ​Comme De Garcons ​means “like
a boy”. True enough, her Paris Fashion Week
S/S 2020 screams unconventionality with
men in skirts, dresses, and bloused sleeves.
Alessandro Michele of Gucci and Miuccia of
Prada opened such gates as well back in 2017.
Although, is going beyond tradition and norms enough?
Better yet, have we not mistaken it with crossdressing?
The nuances of these terminologies often get confused
and conflated, which is why it needs to be distinguished.
How we define our style as androgynous might have misled
us at some point. Apparently, it has been rather outdated
considering how women have worn trousers for so long
that it just doesn’t count anymore. Unisex, instead, would
be an appropriate word. Moreover, technically-speaking,
androgynous refers to how we meld or mute gender-specific
apparel. As a result, it eliminates ‘reading’ of a person’s sex.
What they wear would have nothing to say on the matter of
gender or sexual roles. Simply put, how your aesthetic does
not resemble ​both ​genders so much as resembling ​neither​.
On the other hand, let’s not forget how it is easier for
women to take down the walls of exclusions as compared to
men. At worst, the norm’s tacit approval of empowerment
is considered an improvement. Freeing up men to be more
fluid stands as a different hurdle on its own. This is seen to
be rather demeaning and ridiculous (misogyny).
In the end, clothing might prove as a matter of what genders
share and what they take away from each other. Still, whether
it’s androgyny, drag, or unisex? What we all crave for lies
not in the subject of nomenclature but the lack thereof.
Our creativity should lean closer to our identity without any
specificity—​as fashion should be.
TRAVEL• LIFESTYLE• ENTERTAINMENT
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