Gender-neutrality in fashion didn’t just arrive – it never left

Last month, American Vogue published a kind of tone-deaf cover story featuring couple-of-the-moment Gigi Hadid and Zayn Malik. While the pictures were DIVINE and Zayn became the first Muslim man to grace the cover of Vogue (an achievement in itself), the story attracted attention for all the wrong reasons – mainly because Vogue decided to brand the shoot (and the couple) as focusing on the rise of ‘gender-neutral’ fashion.

Let me explain why this is incorrect.

I'm more than aware that Vogue wasn't trying to offend anyone, and, from an innocent perspective, they didn't really do anything EXTREMELY wrong. But, for the most part of the shoot, Gigi (obviously a female) is the only person wearing gender-reversed clothes, like tuxedos and men’s shoes, while Zayn (and Gigi’s brother Anwar, who is also featured) wears pretty much no women’s clothes whatsoever – or if they are, it isn’t typically ‘feminine’ in appearance. There’s only one reference to Zayn wearing a women’s item of clothing in the entire article, which is when he says he borrowed one of Gigi’s t-shirts. Not a skirt, not a handbag, not even a pair of bloody sunglasses – a t-shirt.

This begs the question – why is the majority of the fashion industry (not all brands or people, just a lot of them) comfortable with women wearing men’s clothes, but not the reverse?

We could boil this down to the sometimes peer-pressuring culture of masculinity, but let’s not forget that some of the coolest and most on-trend guys of the moment have no problem wearing items of clothing traditionally suited to women. I mean, look at Harry Styles, Jaden Smith and Kanye West – they’ve let us all know that wearing clothes marketed toward women (or even something simply a little more flamboyant, like Cuban-heeled boots) isn’t weird, and we’re the ones making it seem that way.

I’m more than confident that in a couple of decades’ time, people will be unashamedly comfortable in wearing whatever they want. But, if you’re a girl and you see a guy’s item of clothing you want to wear – or definitely, vice versa – ask yourself what’s stopping you. Is it what people will think? Is it the gender the clothes are made for? Are you worried you won’t bloody OWN that item of clothing when you wear it?

If it’s any of the above, you have no reason to stress. Because fashion has no gender – wear and do whatever you want. Who cares what people think? The sky’s truly the limit.

Jonah

Images: Instagram/@gigihadid