Is mass fashion ready for a unisex department?

MANILA, Philippines - There’s a new operative term in fashion: unisex department. London luxury retailer Selfridges sparks greater interest as it announces the introduction of a unisex department, which they’d be calling Agender. They see it as a move to encourage individuals to pursue self-expression to a much greater extent — unhindered by the weight of gender codes and free from the biases of fashion stereotypes and limitations.

Recently, the fashion world has seen quite a few instances, like Vivienne Westwood’s collaboration with Opening Ceremony with her World’s End line. This particular collaboration also comes in response to Selfridge’s new unisex section. Meanwhile, the most recent men’s shows have been hinting on stuff girls might want to steal from the boys. Case in point: Gucci’s pussy bow blouse for autumn/winter 2015 (which eagerly reminds us of Chloé’s opening look for autum/winter 2011 with Raquel Zimmerman). There’s also a long list of designers to be loosely cited from memory who’ve always done this gender neutral aesthetic — Jean Paul Gaultier, Rad Hourani, Rick Owens, Gareth Pugh, JW Anderson, etc. Also, the campaigns have been a little cheeky over this unisex matter as Cara Delevingne joins the boys in DKNY’s spring/summer 2015 campaign.

At the end of this spectrum, what would be crucial is stores communicating their unisex departments in the future would be a well-curated selection of clothes and designers that would best illustrate their “gender-neutral” ground. And perhaps, the more this unisex thing is repetitively communicated, the more it will gain ground in the coming days.

Fluid Motion: menswear worn as womenswear and vise versa for Vivienne Westwood’s campaign collaboration with Opening Ceremony.

Unisex for the masses

While something like this could be convenient for luxury labels (most especially since they have a major retailer for back-up), there seemingly is more work that will be needed for mass fashion. Either the formation of this unisex thing for the mass fashion is at its premature stages or in a transition period. In any case, it will all rely on the extent of desire from the masses that will drive mass fashion to capitalize on these gender-neutral clothes. But at the end of the day, what trickles into the racks of mass fashion retailers will always be an offshoot or a particular appropriation of the key trends as realized by designers on the runway.

Gender Divide: after Frida Giannini’s unceremonious exit, the Gucci menswear design team put forth a new, decidedly androgynous collection featuring languorous silhouettes and pussy bow blouses for men.

Transition stage

As far as the world of mass fashion and the creation of this unisex department might be in a transitory mode, one could never guess as well how long it could be in this transition period. Perhaps before we know it, the unisex endeavor from mass fashion retailers could have already been there before we know it. It’s particularly because we live in the digital age and access to information happens at an inhuman speed. Or for business matters, think of how Gucci scrapped off the collection Frida Giannini left behind for the men’s autumn/winter 2015 (prior to her departure) and the team came up with a whole new collection in 10 days. And that did include that ubiquitous pussy bow shirt. The market could be an interesting factor that can surprise us and tell us otherwise.

It can also address a bigger range of consumers. Think of those girls who always borrow from their boyfriends (and vise versa), those guys with small frames who sneak out something from the women’s section because it fit them better over the men’s stuff (something that happens a lot with lanky Asian men as the men’s), or those who simply want to try their hand at ambiguity and avoid the masculine and feminine polarities. Basically, this gender-neutral could be political as individuals can use it as a way to resist society’s directive take on gender or quite simply just leave it to aesthetics because gender-neutral clothing do have a particularly distinguishable aesthetic.

If mass fashion is to take on a unisex department, it would be interesting to see how they come up with something like what Selfridges has done. Perhaps we’d be seeing them renovating their stores and using more floor space to make way for this new section. And when fashion followers check out their latest offerings online other than the men’s and women’s collections, there’s another one category called unisex. It might be some concern for logistics for retail but as we all well know, fashion thrives on such change. For now, it might be good enjoy this matter on a light note and dance to this upheaval with the chorus line of Blur’s Boys and Girls (while anticipating how mass fashion takes on the unisex movement) — girls who are boys who like boys to be girls who do boys like they’re girls who do girls like they’re boys.