Fashion

Of all the worst fashion trends such as low rise jeans, dying the front pieces of your hair, and baggy pants, the trend that takes the cake would have to be gender specific fashion. If your confused, let me explain.

Since before we can remember fashion trends have been gender specific. What does that mean you might ask? It means that each trend can only be worn by the appropriate gender. It sounds crazy I know. For example; dresses on women and suits on men. And yes, we do see some people defying the standards of society and wearing whatever they want like Harry Styles wearing a dress for vogue and Zendaya modeling full piece suits. But when will people be able to do this without it being so controversial that it causes a war on the internet where everyone takes sides? In this essay I will explain why gender specific clothing is a myth or a state of mind if you will that society has forced into our way of thinking and why we should reconstruct our views of fashion to see it as a gender neutral industry.

To begin, let me take you back all the way to 1700 France. When you think of high heels you typically only think of women wearing them. And if you were to see a man wearing them, people would most likely find it weird or unnatural and most definitely not masculine. But back in 1700 France men were actually the first to wear high heels. It started with King Louis the 16th. He decided that wearing heels was only okay for men and claimed it symbolized power and masculinity, the opposite of what we know to be true today. And because a person of authority told them so, the people believed it to be true and only men wore heels.

For another example let’s consider booty shorts. When you think of short shorts typically we think of women wearing them. If we were to see a man wearing booty shorts one might think it was odd, off putting, or even question his masculinity or sexuality. But let’s take a trip to 1970. A time when the fashion industry was booming. Bright colors, crazy hair, and hoop earrings were all the rage. But when you saw people wearing short shorts on the street, it was always men! And no one in sight was questioning their masculinity. Not a single person.

So let me ask you, is gender specific fashion made up by humans to come up with a way to leave the opposite gender out? Or was it invented by corrupt people in positions of power to monetize our insecurities? Yes it is true we see more and more of people breaking gender stereotypes. Men painting their nails, wearing makeup, wearing dresses and skirts, and being themselves. But when will it be considered normal and not a “brave” action of expression? When will we be able to wear whatever we want without fear of judgement or people questioning our sexuality or cultural backgrounds or femininity? Because the last time I checked, what we wear doesn’t have anything to do with those things.

So who is at fault for the way we think? Is it the government? Is it the people who have authority over the fashion industry? Is it both? Or is it our own faults for falling victim to such a way of thinking and blatant opinions? Perhaps it is all of the above. But what can we do about it? To start, we can refrain from judgement when we see people expressing themselves through fashion. We can hype them up and support them on their journey of discovering themselves. And most importantly, we can stand up for them when others question them.