In this century we can see it all over the runways and funways, celebrities strutting care freely, challenging the assigned gender roles and dressing, and the designers mingling handsome with pretty; the phenomenon is androgyny.It all started way back in 1920s, what I love to call – Coco Chanel’s era. The fancy free designer notably walked around in her beloved Boy Capel’s blazers and bestowed androgyny to fashion. Later, YSL Le Smoking tuxedo suit for women further blurred the differentiating lines. Moreover, today’s fashion is unlike that painful girdle corset fashion of 20s, it’s more about unrestricted comfort where ‘form follows function’. The biased sexual perceptions and supposed gender roles are irritatingly nostalgic in this world of fast fashion. We all have male and female qualities, why not be able to show both? People are being looked at for what’s in their eyes – their inner sexuality.
Generally, it’s my impression that truly androgynous clothes are pretty tricky to find – but most androgyny followers achieve their look by mimicking the styles of the gender that they were not born into. So an androgynous biological female might cut her hair short and wear a lot of menswear, and an androgynous biological male might grow his hair longer, shave his legs, and wear more makeup. The idea is not to do it to the point of actually being in drag (not that there’s anything wrong with drag), but just to the point where it’s difficult to tell what gender you are.
Fashion has always played with androgyny, but lately it has taken a provocative step onto center stage. Remember when Balenciaga sent a bevy of androgynous-looking models, including the fierce Jana K., down the Spring ’11 runway? It transformed the fashion house’s heritage into a plasticised graphic wonderland, combined with cocoon shaped coats, rigid vests and mini skirt. And since then, we’ve seen Lea T. smooching Kate Moss on the Love cover, Armani Prive fall couture 2011 has an androgynous hair do with Asian inspiration,a major moment for the transsexual model who made her debut as the Givenchy muse.Jean Paul Gaultier’s Spring ’11 ad features Karolina Kurkova leaning in for a kiss with a beautiful blonde that looks like a girl, but it’s delicate-looking male model Andrej Pejic. These models are blurring the lines of sexuality and the fashion industry is loving it.
Fashion has always played with androgyny, but lately it has taken a provocative step onto center stage. Remember when Balenciaga sent a bevy of androgynous-looking models, including the fierce Jana K., down the Spring ’11 runway? It transformed the fashion house’s heritage into a plasticised graphic wonderland, combined with cocoon shaped coats, rigid vests and mini skirt. And since then, we’ve seen Lea T. smooching Kate Moss on the Love cover, Armani Prive fall couture 2011 has an androgynous hair do with Asian inspiration,a major moment for the transsexual model who made her debut as the Givenchy muse.Jean Paul Gaultier’s Spring ’11 ad features Karolina Kurkova leaning in for a kiss with a beautiful blonde that looks like a girl, but it’s delicate-looking male model Andrej Pejic. These models are blurring the lines of sexuality and the fashion industry is loving it.
Fashion and music has played important role in bring the change into the life of a modern life Androgyny is in, and it’s about time! The popularity of androgynous dress, was seen in 1980’s copying the styles of Boy George, Michael Jackson, David Bowie, and the Punk scene.
In Bollywood we had spotted Kalki Koechlin,Kareena Kapoor, Soha Ali Khan, Shilpa Shetty, Anuskha Sharma, Sonam Kapoor, Ira Dubey in the androgynous style.
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