Unisex Fashion
“Unisex dress has witnessed a revival in recent high fashion collections, with designers creating outfits for both men and women and styling them androgynously in fashion editorials. Collections from designers like Rick Owens, Rad Hourani, JW Anderson and Miuccia Prada have spurred a renewed discussion across fashion media on what value we place on gender in fashion product (Vestoj). “
Develop a theme to explore from the list of starting points.
- Source ten fashion images that are thematically linked.
- Write an annotation of between 110 and 130 words for each image that analyses the image in relation to key ideas as covered in lectures and academic sources.
- Write an 800-word rationale that summarises your theme (what you are saying about 21st-century fashion) and explains how your images communicate this theme.
Solution
Unisex Fashion Images
Unisex fashion Images
Malicse, K., 2015. Ximon Lee x H&M Collection Bring High Quality Unisex Fashion to the Masses. [Online] Available at: http://trendymii.mitvl.com/wordpress/ximon-lee-x-hm-collection-bring-high-quality-unisex-fashion-to-the-masses/
This is a unisex collection designed by Award winner Ximon Lee. The piece is designed with a unisex collection theme for both men and women. In this design, Lee made the pieces to look more versatile for both men and women by using large volume and oversized silhouettes, which is common in the 21st century fashion themes (Malicse, 2015). The pieces are designed for winter seasons and can be wearable in public. The Pieces are featured with the best quality materials such as denim, cotton shirts, structured shorts and trousers with lumpy zippers. The designs incorporates layers of creativity, which includes the use of oversized collars and overlays in a palette of stripes, white and dark denim. These pieces are suitable for over and under clothing during the winter seasons.
Rouhani, R., 2016. RAD HOURANI Unisex Collections. [Online] Available at: http://www.radhourani.com/collections/eshop/products/dr802gj-wrp-unisex-classic-tshit
This is a Gray Jersey designed by Rad Hourani. The Gray jersey is ninety five percent Rayon and five percent spandex. The jersey is designed for a casual look during summer season with a variety of features that many unisex fans can admire (Rouhani, 2016). The jersey is long enough to be worn as a dress for women and foldable for men. This unisex jersey design have unique features such as short sleeves and have a unique square neckline. The jersey is also designed in such a way that has a relaxed fit for every body size. There are also available in different size models for both women and men.
Rouhani, R., 2016. RAD HOURANI Unisex Collections. [Online] Available at: http://www.radhourani.com/collections/eshop/products/dr801alj-mwp-unisex-turtle-neck-top
This image shows a unisex collection by Rad Hourani known as the Aluminum Jersey. This fashion style collection caters for both male and female fashion fans and are wearable in public. The Aluminum jersey piece is designed for winter season with a comfortable unisex turtleneck top and long sleeves that can be comfortably worn either formally or casually. This unisex collection is a 21st century fashion trend that is not designed for specific gender anatomy. The white manifesto print on the jersey also gives the piece a more attractive look for both male and female fashion fanatics. The Aluminum Jersey is mainly designed for the youths, who are more attracted to the current unisex fashion trends. The materials used in the design of this Aluminum Jersey include ninety-five percent rayon and five percent spandex.
Rouhani, R., 2016. RAD HOURANI Unisex Collections. [Online] Available at: http://www.radhourani.com/collections/eshop/products/bag901bkwl-unisex-back-pack#.V1MAP74vWlQ
This image shows a Black Wool and Leather backpack designed by Rad Hourani. The Backpack is unisex fashion model that can be comfortably used by both male and females. The materials used in the design of the backpack is seventy-five percent wool and twenty-five percent polyester. The materials used in this design gives the backpack a modern look and can match any type of dressing. The backpack is available in a large size model, which makes it suitable for caring important devices such as laptops and iPad. This means the backpack is suitable for the young consumers who are attracted to modern fashion trends. The backpack has unique features such as top handle and shoulder straps, one internal pocket, a zip front pocket in leather and a top handle in leather. These features make the backpack more comfortable and cool among the 21st century consumers (Rouhani, 2016).
Sherman, L., 2014. Unisex Fashion: Can It Ever Be More Than a Niche Category?. [Online] Available at: http://fashionista.com/2014/08/unisex-designers
This image features a windowpane-check “anonymous” sweatshirt designed by Kristi Paras. The sweatshirt is designed to be worn by both male and female consumers, as one cannot tell whether the design is meant for a specific anatomy. The unique part of the sweatshirt is that it is cut far away from the body making it easier for both men and women to wear it. The sweatshirt design makes it more appealing for the 21st century cultural consumers. The sweatshirt is made hundred percent from organic cotton, which makes it easier to design it for a gender-neutral consumer market. This unisex fashion trend creates a new way of dressing as people can start to look modern without any gender limits (Sherman, 2014).
The Dvine, 2014. Gender Bender: Unisex Fashion. [Online] Available at: http://www.the-dvine.com/2014/08/gender-bender-unisex-fashion/
This image features the interchangeable design by Loewe under J.W Anderson’s first unisex collection brand. The design features a modern oversize draped tops and long tunics, which are suitable for summer vacations and holidays. This design is a world most favorite interpretation of the 21st century trend that can be worn by both sexes. Although, the collection is advertised as men’s wear, this piece has been seen trending in many of J.W Anderson’s fashion week campaigns telling a different story. Both female and male have featured this design models wearing matching styles, indicating that the collection is unisex than single based gender. Many designers in the 21st century have embraced style over gender since the unisex collection designs have gained a niche market status (The Dvine, 2014).
Summers, M., 2015. Winter Unisex Fashion Essentials. [Online] Available at: https://www.theodysseyonline.com/winter-unisex-fashion-essentials
This image is from a photoshoot out which features unique Bomber Jackets that is popular amongst the 21st century generation. The jacket designs are common with many youths and can be worn by any sex. The Bomber Jacket is a street inspire style that is designed for any casual look. The Bomber Jacket are one of the most popular trend in the 21st century due to its contemporary fashion statement, which can match with any type of outfit. Bomber jacket are also essential fashion item that can protect one from harsh climatic conditions. However, the Jacket can also be worn during sunny seasons and still feel comfortable. Bomber jackets are great fashion items because they do never go out of style and are popular unisex collections amongst the youths (Summers, 2015).
Lam, P., 2014. Concis Introduces its First Unisex Collection. [Online] Available at: http://www.oe-magazine.de/stories/concis-introduces-first-unisex-collection/
This image displays a photoshoot for the winter 2015 cycle designed by Concis under the leadership of designer Hoai Vo. The design is the first venture of the young designer into the dominion of unisex apparel. The design pieces incorporates Hoai’s signature elements, which indicates sophistication and special, yet wearable for both male and female. The unique part of these design pieces is that they indicate assembled multitude of distinct looks into a single piece for both male and female wear. The jackets and coats designed are well polished and gently complex which generates a perfect modest statement piece for the winter. This gives the 21st century consumer the perfect reason to invest in a Concis piece that packs it all into one rather than buy several jackets (Lam, 2014).
Rouhani, R., 2016. RAD HOURANI Unisex Collections. [Online] Available at: http://www.radhourani.com/collections/eshop/products/hd900gdj-unisex-hoodie#.V1LUO74vWlQ
This image taken during a photoshoot out by Rad Hourani features a Unisex Hoodie with a square edge hood, drop shoulder long sleeves and two front pockets, which are fully lined, for both sexes. The materials used in the design of this fashion piece includes ninety-eight percent polyester and four percent spandex. This shows the material used are of high quality and comfortable for both feminine and masculine fashion fans. The boxy fit design makes it hard for one to distinguish whether the piece is designed for a specific anatomy. The design of this piece shows how unisex fashion trends in the 21st century has transformed to accommodate both gender in the same clothing line. Designers such as Rad Rouhani are now focused on popularizing androgynous fashion themes rather than single based gender fashion style (Rouhani, 2016).
Manjal, A. Z., 2016. Rad Hourani Spring or Summer 2011 Collection: Unisexuality. [Online] Available at: http://squa.re/2010/09/14/rad-hourani-springsummer-2011-collection-%E2%80%9Cunisexuality%E2%80%9D/
In this image features the best of Rad Rouhani’s best unisex summer collection. Based on this design and many other famous Rad Rouhani’s unisex collections, Rad Rouhani demonstrate how modern day fashion in the 21st century has transformed how people view fashion (Manjal, 2016). The evolutions of gender bending fashion have influenced many Rad Rouhani’s fashion collections and other designers have embraced the change. In the design pieces, Rad Rouhani have taken the concept of unisex fashion and transformed it into one of the most popular fashion clothing for both female and males. The perfection done on the pieces flawlessly fits every gender and encourages genderless clothing. The mixture of grey and white to the usual black and leather of the design piece is quite inspirational and excellent, especially when the three blend (Manjal, 2016).
Rationale
The transformation of gender-based fashion to unisex fashion has become a groundbreaking fashion trend for the 21st century. Unisex fashion in the 21st century has not only changed the fashion world but has affected the social norm of the human interaction (Chen, 2011). However, unisex fashion still existed before the 21st century, but its existence was primarily based upon uniformity with a masculine tilt. It did not sought to cross gender lines. Unisex fashion has paved itself as a movement that is here to stay (J Diamond, 2013). Unisex clothing continues to gain a huge marketshare, despite the reluctance of some big retail brands to shift into genderless industry (J Diamond, 2013). The description on of the existence of unisex fashion in the 21st century can be further illustrated by saying that blue men from Mars and pink women from Venus can now live together on planet earth (Chen, 2011).
The world fashion trend has been infiltrated by a more androgynous aesthetic over the last decade. Male models are now sent into the catwalk stage during fashion shows dressed in skirts attracting major attention from many fashion designers (J Diamond, 2013). Due to this, fashion designers have now embraced the art of unisex fashion by creating genderless fashion items. The popularity of unisex fashion in the 21st century fashion have paved way for a fresh approach to fashion and style building upon the foundation of expression over gender.
However, despite these dramatic changes in the 21st century fashion, there are some individuals reluctant to move from the traditional view on male and female style of fashion (J Diamond, 2013). On the other hand, the emergence of unisex fashion themes have been well adopted by many fashion lovers as many people are fed up with the traditional fashion style which discriminate gender based on color that dictates their wardrobe (Chen, 2011). The traditional concept of colors are synonymous with a specific gender have been shun by many women who feel that their options are limited.
Women can now ignore the bright colors that were traditionally associated with them, for quest for darker colorways (J Diamond, 2013). Women are now creating the mentality of choosing fashion items that are less princess like and moving towards fashion items that are associated with power. There is no doubt that in the 21st century unisex fashion is in high demand. Consumers are becoming more involved in making it their goal to urge fashion designers that have failed to embrace unisex fashion lines to become more inclusive to the wants of both their females and male consumers. However, the support from both the male and female consumers around the globe has been amazing during the beginning of the 21st century (J Diamond, 2013).
It is quite clear that as the beginning of 21st century the definition of gender is becoming more and more vague as unisex fashion define genderless clothing (J Diamond, 2013). The genderless clothing brought about by unisex fashion, reflects the cultural uncertainty that surrounds the male and female role. In addition, many fashion experts argue that the 21st century fashion emphasizes on youth and sexuality (J Diamond, 2013). The existence of unisex clothing and the wide use of men’s clothing by women illustrate this evidence. It is nearly impossible to measure the market for unisex clothes, but there is no doubt that such a market exists. In the unisex fashion line, women are more willing to make that step of moving towards a gender-neutral role in terms of fashion. Therefore, women make up the highest number for unisex fashion customers. Research studies indicate that women are more inclined to head over to the men’s section, as men are reluctant to deviate. However, in the 21st century, men are starting to pay more attention to how they dress (Chen, 2011).
According to the images in this paper, Hourani’s unisex collection is that to be the most popular genderless brands of the 21st century since his launch in 2007 (Lam, 2014). Many consider his work more provocative bringing attention to the idea of unisex fashion. Despite these changes, unisex fashion is still a major challenge for most male consumers. The challenge to unisex fashion is the cultural gender norms that most of the society is still firmly ingrained. This means that most men want to be masculine and most women want to be feminine, hence creating a barrier (Lam, 2014). This makes it hard to get away from human anatomy, which makes up the majority of people in the society. However, despite all these challenges their still some set of people who will challenge the cultural gender norms, but still their actions will not make any significant impact on human cultural norms (The Dvine, 2014).
References
Chen, S., 2011. Androgynous Style in Fashion. Advanced Materials Research,, pp. 976-980.
J Diamond, E. D., 2013. The world of fashion. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing.
Lam, P., 2014. Concis
Introduces its First Unisex Collection. [Online]
Available at: http://www.oe-magazine.de/stories/concis-introduces-first-unisex-collection/
Malicse, K., 2015. Ximon
Lee x H&M Collection Bring High Quality Unisex Fashion to the Masses. [Online]
Available at: http://trendymii.mitvl.com/wordpress/ximon-lee-x-hm-collection-bring-high-quality-unisex-fashion-to-the-masses/
Manjal, A. Z., 2016. Rad
Hourani Spring or Summer 2011 Collection: Unisexuality. [Online]
Available at: http://squa.re/2010/09/14/rad-hourani-springsummer-2011-collection-%E2%80%9Cunisexuality%E2%80%9D/
Rouhani, R., 2016. RAD
HOURANI Unisex Collections. [Online]
Available at: http://www.radhourani.com/collections/eshop
Sherman, L., 2014. Unisex
Fashion: Can It Ever Be More Than a Niche Category?. [Online]
Available at: http://fashionista.com/2014/08/unisex-designers
Summers, M., 2015. Winter
Unisex Fashion Essentials. [Online]
Available at: https://www.theodysseyonline.com/winter-unisex-fashion-essentials
The Dvine, 2014. Gender
Bender: Unisex Fashion. [Online]
Available at: http://www.the-dvine.com/tag/rad-hourani/
