Genderfluid Fashion: A New Perspective on the Industry

Genderfluid expands the boundaries of creativity

The fashion industry has, in many ways, fallen victim to its own creativity. At the end of the day, everything has been done before, and stylistic variations aren’t infinite. Most of us have a handful of go-to outfits. But if you don’t box yourself into a cis-gender perspective, the world of fashion suddenly becomes a whole new ball game. Rules are broken. You no longer need to choose a ‘team’ to play for. And before you know it, a whole new generation of brands enters the spotlight. They don’t limit themselves to the old-school binary approach, and instead explore degender fit and androgenous artistic taste. Their vision is free, bold and refreshing. They elevate cutting-edge unisex shapes, expanding the boundaries of creativity, reaching elegant and sophisticated design that embraces the human body per se. We see it in Alessandro Michele’s Gucci, the new vision of Tommy Hilfiger, and Marc Jacobs’ polysexual collection, but there’s no need to limit ourselves to shopping big names only. Why not discover some new ingenious designers: buy Stella McCartney and mix and match it with Indian rising star Bloni. Combine Versace’s 2020 Fall collection with the made in Bali extravagance of Mark Baigent or Parisian Esther Bancel. You can draw from the past and the future; you can wear what you like, the way you like it, while supporting independent brands from all over the world.

Cis-gender shopping is old

Let’s be honest, the industry is saturated with cis-gender cliché. This isn’t a slight against anybody; it’s just a fact, and it turns off a lot of people who don’t identify as woman or man. They don’t feel comfortable and choose not to adopt agreed ‘standards’. But there also aren’t meaningful alternatives for those who just don’t feel like gender-specific shopping. We are not even talking about the general public pressure, because there is also a difference between not being catered to and actively being discriminated against, which is sadly a common practice in many social circles. It can be hard to tell the difference between the two sometimes. But if you have heart, courage, and taste, and regardless of whether you are a gender-neutral person or not, then you have the opportunity to think and act differently. While shopping in physical stores remains a restrictive experience, limited by spacial organization and pigeon-holing, where choice is limited to one of two formats (fluid or cis-gender), online platforms have more scope to satisfy all types of consumers. It is now possible to not only purchase unisex clothes and non-binary brands, but also just scroll through a whole catalogue without being forced into labels and multiple unnecessary clicks, jumping between one cissexual assumption to the next, on a painful crusade to find your perfect look.

Celebrities choose non-binary fashion

It can be powerful seeing someone you admire wearing something that you feel reaffirms your identity. It can really take your breath away. This might be part of the reason that  we see so many celebrities adopting non-binary looks. It’s their way of endorsing the movement and helping to affect the world they live in. While Miley Cyrus affirms herself as gender-fluid, Gigi Hadid has been pictured in non-binary garments and Harry Styles is a symbol of free-spirited outside-the-box styling, unisex aesthetic has been around for a while in the creative industry. Let’s think back to the stunning Julia Roberts in her Armani suit for 47th Golden Globes or the glam rock Blitz looks of David Bowie or Brin Eno. It was always there, we’re just finally reaching critical mass to take it to its rightful place.