SP15 Fashion and Culture
Yang Zou
Parsons The New School for Design Spring2015
02/24/15 Ammar Belal, Asst. Prof
Project 1:"Style Archaeology" Research Paper
Androgyny in the Fashion world
I finally choose this photograph from all the 20 photographs which I took during the
New York Fashion Week.This petite girl is in J.W. Anderson's wrapped sweater,Paco
Rabanne's zippered skirt,wearing a Prada sunglasses,holding a Louis Vuitton
handbag.When I first saw her,I was just attracted by the totally black look which really
matches with her fair skin.People may says black is safety,even kind of boring.But I would
rather call it classic.Comparing this type of classic with some over-mix-and-match looks,I
will definitely choose the former.You could absolutely stand out from hundreds of colorful
fashion bloggers or magazine's editors by being yourself in a dark look.All you need is just a
perfect tailoring and appropriate bareness.Actually,that's also my dressing style.Seventy
percent of my clothes in the wardrobe are black or white.In the morning,when I wake up
standing before all of my clothes,if I have no idea about the day look,I will just grab a black
top with some print on it and a black distressed skinny pants.I always feel more
comfortable and confident in black.
The girl in the photograph is a blogger of some note,whose name is Xiao Liu.I have been
invited in a fashion event last summer in China and she was also there.We saw each other
in the elevator in a very short time.She is small-size with poker face and gorgeous color
tattoos on her calfs.I thought she was a stylishly cool girl and there was some masculinity
characteristic with her.So she has the strength of controlling dark and simple colors.For
me,the most interesting and stunning object in her whole look is that J.W. Anderson's black
ribbed Angora wrap sweater.So I decide to explore it and delve much deeper of the
background behind it.
This fashionable and functional sweater is from J.W.Anderson 2014 Pre-Fall season.It
infuses the elegance of angora with a unmixed black,transforming it into a rich and
sumptuous piece that glows with warmth as it wraps itself across your torso. Artfully
crafted in Italy using the finest angora, this top adds a heaping dose of sophistication and
allure to any ensemble.The sweater also has another special burgundy color and it
embodies the overall style of this rising,new-generation brand.
J.W.Anderson was established by the Northern Irish designer Jonathan Anderson in
2008,it began presenting a women’s capsule collection in 2010.Although it is such
young,Anderson's label is now regarded as one of London’s most innovative and forward
thinking brands.Its unique design aesthetic offers a modern interpretation of masculinity
and femininity by creating thought-provoking silhouettes through a conscious crosspollination between menswear and womenswear elements.It has Spring and Fall Ready-toWear,pre-Fall and Resort collections every year.J.W.Anderson really focus on the
recombination and construction of the garment fabric.It is interesting to perceive that there
are numerous looks with some seemingly irrational fabric sewing on them.Anderson uses a
easily method to create his collections,he always gets inspirations from what he sees and
hears,or his visual by disorderly conjectures.He works on the treatment of dual gender
issues,and constantly uses age,gender and taste as the themes.From my perspective,the
word "Androgyny" undoubtedly is one of the characteristic labels of J.W.Anderson.I was
really interested in this distinctive style,so I did some research about the history of
Androgyny in the fashion world.
Androgyny is a term that originates from Greek word "ανήρ",which means man,and
"γυνή", meaning woman. It is referred to combination of masculinity and femininity
characteristics.Androgyny entered the mainstream in 1972.During twentieth century and
the beginning of twenty-first century,androgyny was mostly promoted by persons from
fashion industry and pop culture.
In 1930,Skirt-pants entered the fashion mainstream.Hollywood celebrities use their
influence to promote androgynous style.In 1931,the famous actress Marlene Dietrich
shocked public opinion when she appeared in men’s suit with hat.An fascinating pianist
called Liberace entertains people dressed as queen of France in 1950.After ten years,unisex
way of dressing became mainstream in London.In 1970,David Bowie dressed as bisexual at
his concerts,and accepted the identity of Ziggy Stardust.He presented an alien visualization
with strong make-up and prominent cheekbones in his cult album"The Rise and Fall of
Ziggy Stardust and Spiders from Mars".Andy Warhol,who created this image of Ziggy
Stardust,encouraged the trend.Moreover,Woody Allen films a movie "Annie Hall" in 1977,in
which the main female character wears man’s shirt, tie, galligaskins.This movie took part in
making new fashion style,called New Yorker style,which wasn’t seductive but opened to
new experiences setting unisex clothing as a mainstream.While,in 1990,Kathryn Dawn
Land at the cover of Vanity fair dressed as a man and shaved by supermodel Cindy
Crawford.After that,Dennis Rodman entered the public dressed in the wedding dress
declaring himself bisexual and was marrying himself in 1997.Andrej Pejic,an androgynous
model,conquered the fashion industry in 2010.Androgynous look remained popular
through 80's,and in 90's when glam rock lost its popularity androgyny survived through
other forms.
I was very curious why androgyny would appeared,so I tried to explain it with my own
words.From my point of view,there are two main things between androgyny and fashion
industry.First is referred to a common fact that designers are supposed to have male
strength and female sensibility,in order to make creative and innovative work,they may be
kind of inner androgyny.The other thing is about androgynous way of dressing that is a
result of the certain social situation,especially influenced by gender equality movement
starting in the 1960s.Women think,behave and dress more like men,and men are more and
more feminized.Fashion designers used to produce clothes that were in accordance with
gender roles:women would wear skirts and men suits.But in the 60s situation
changed,inspiring designers to adapt to the innovative fashion trends influenced by social
and political mutations:model Twiggy,cut her hair and popularize boyish hairstyle;men
belonging to hippie movement let their hair grow and dressed more similar to women and
rock stars wear tight pants and bright colors.These important movement promoted the
androgynous way of dressing in the fashion and pop culture worlds.What's
more,masculinity is defined with adjectives such as
strong,persuasive,logical,dominant,determined and femininity with adjectives such as
emotional,caring,soft,sympathetic.All of us have male and female genetic material inside
our bodies.How we're brought up and what we've experienced could influence our
dressing styles even sexualities.
Fashion always played with androgyny,but lately it takes over very provocative steps.In
Balenciaga’s Spring 2011 Ready to Wear fashion show had androgynous models.Since then,
many others followed:Kate Moss kissing a transgender model Lea T. at the cover of
magazine;Givenchy’s muse was also her and Jean Paul Gaultier’s advert which shows
Karolina Kurkova kissing a beautiful blonde,the famous androgynous model Andrej
Pejic.Unisex trend was not popular during the 90s,but in the new millennium it became
inevitable and very influential.Famous brands such as Burberry,Marni and Gucci underline
that the greatest use of androgyny in fashion is seen through female suits what clearly
highlights gender equality.
Are those moments becoming part of the modern society or they are experiments
that go far beyond everyday fashion dynamics? What we should expect from the next
decade?
Nowadays,unisex way of dressing becomes mainstream.Fashionable bloggers love
attempting different mix-and-match styles with men's and women's clothes.We could often
see a man holding a Chanel or Celine bag during the fashion weeks.Some men even look
much more cute and stylish than women in the same trendy item.Lots of my girl-friends
prefer to choose some top sweaters or jackets in the men's brands.I don't think they lose
their male or female characteristic,conversely they are more interesting.Those
androgynous moments are not experiments that go far beyond daily fashion anymore,they
become part of our life and they exist beside us.In the next decade,I gave my expectation to
let this free unisex dressing style enter ordinary people's life.Everyone should have fun in
dress himself up and that will be the big promotion in the fashion industry.