androgynous style in fashion
TRANSCRIPT
Androgynous style in fashion
Si Chen
ShaoXing University, Zhejiang
Keywords: Androgynous clothing; Style; Formation; Significance.
Abstract. Fashion styles are closely related to their social and cultural background. Clothing is a
product of materials and ideas. Clothing satisfies people physically and psychologically.
Androgynous style is not a recent development; it was, is and will continue to be popular, which is
special in fashion history. Androgynous style is prevailing currently. Despite its appearance,
androgynous style is closely connected to social and cultural influences, for example, mass media,
lifestyles and improvements in production methods in the clothing industry. In this paper, there is a
deep examination of androgynous style, the significance of and reasons for its popularity with
societies from the past up to today.
Introduction
In the process of any style’s rise to prevalence, the factors behind its establishment were closely
linked to social and cultural surroundings at that time. Androgynous style isn’t a product of modern
society. Instead, it appears repeatedly, featuring a unique part of clothing history and corresponding
to the changing pace of social history. Androgynous style stands and always seems to go against
contemporary fashion, which includes anti-traditional clothing, anti-dominant ideology, and
anti-mainstream culture, echoing the development of human civilization. In the development of
human civilization, clothing was restricted by social norms: customs, moral ethics, laws and
regulations. There were clear-cut boundaries between men’s clothing and women’s clothing. It is
possible that such constrictions give rise to rebellious people. When conditions permitted,
androgynous styles of clothing formed into being. Androgynous clothing can be divided into two
forms: cross-dressing and unisex clothing. In feudal society, androgynous clothing mainly referred
to cross-dressing. In modern society, androgynous clothing generally refers to unisex clothing. Just
as the ancient civilization formed the foundation of modern civilization, without cross-dressing,
unisex clothing would never have evolved. Regarding the evolution of androgynous style, men’s
clothes could be compared to black while women’s clothes to white, but gradually the black and the
white started to mingle and turned into grey. Men’s wear had a stronger impact on women’s.
Early androgynous style — origins in cross-dressing
There are differences in the forms and meanings of androgynous style between feudal society and
modern society. In feudal society, a person’s attire represented his identity and status. Attire bearing
a clear distinction between classes couldn’t be changed at will. One shouldn’t cross the line of
dressing. The way they dressed maintained constant stability. Unchanging clothing represented
unchanging society [1]. In feudal society, androgynous style was quite simple. Under strict moral
and legal constraints and differences in gender, it was rebellious for men and women to wear each
Advanced Materials Research Vols. 175-176 (2011) pp 976-980Online available since 2011/Jan/20 at www.scientific.net© (2011) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerlanddoi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.175-176.976
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others’ clothes. For instance, Lord Long Yang, a homosexual who lived during the
Spring-and-Autumn period and Warring States periods in China, enjoyed dressing up like a woman.
Li Cheng Qian, a crown prince in the Tang Dynasty, kept handsome catamites who could play all
kinds of musical instruments and dressed in both men’s and women’s clothing. It was a public
demonstration of sexual orientation contrary to customs and social morals. In the middle of the
Tang Dynasty when the environment was less strict and the economy was relatively advanced, it
was popular among higher ranking women in the ruling class to wear men’s clothing. During the
reign of Wu Ze Tian, the emperor and noble women usually wore men’s clothes. The only female
pharaoh in Egyptian history, Hatshepsut, usually dressed up like a man, constricting her bosom and
wearing a fake beard. She was an outstanding politician. Patriarchal society acknowledged her by
allowing her to wear men’s clothing. Androgynous styles in this period were representative and
simple. The nature of this kind of cross-dressing wasn’t out of physiological needs, but
psychological needs, which was flattering to the authorities.
Modern androgynous style — changes in women’s wear
There have been various forms of androgynous style in modern society. In modern times, western
clothing has influenced eastern clothing styles. Modern garments originated in Europe. In the early
19th century, Europe was still a largely agrarian society. However, in the next 100 years,
industrialization rapidly changed European society[2]. Since villages began becoming urbanized
and industrialized in Europe and America, people’s values developed accordingly: a strong demand
for economic development, active promotion for industrialization and modernization, and vigorous
development of democratic institutions. However, most of the values were related to men only[3].
Black became the main color for men’s clothing and the symbol of commercial spirits later on. Suits
were born afterward[4]. The style of modern men’s clothing was established. During the struggle
for women’s rights, the style of women’s clothing gradually drew closer to men’s. Women became
the main engine of androgynous style.
In traditional society, the concept of "boxing and coxing" had set women into the role of
ideographic style (emotional expressions), which was usually confined to their families. Therefore,
their emotions were implicative and restrained. In modern society, women started to go out to work
and participate in social activities; therefore, gender difference in emotional expressions decreased
and women became more open-minded and free[5]. The reason women got tangled into emotional
difficulties by their dual roles was related to “one standard” in the modern industrial system. In the
modern industrial system, women were evaluated and chosen based on men’s values and
perspectives, so that less masculine women were in jeopardy of losing their equal rights in
economic, political and cultural aspects and they were oppressed and weren’t able to express
themselves freely in public[6].
The dual awakening of women’s consciousness and social status formed the revolution in
women’s clothing. The First World War, from 1914 to 1918, marked the end of the 19th century and
the beginning of modern society. During this period, British and American women abandoned the
fetters imposed on the by clothing and society. Instead they held comfort as the top priority. They
started to smoke, drink, curse, work, and finally won the right to vote [7]. In fact, in early modern
society, the androgynous style of women’s clothing was radical. In order to show equality with men,
women copied men’s way of living. Moreover, they wore men’s clothing and designed women’s
clothing similarly to men’s. Regarding clothing manufacturing technology, manual manufacturing
was replaced by assembly line manufacturing with the invention of sewing machines in the late
19th century. The progress in sewing technology accelerated the reform of women’s clothing. In
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order to fit into new social roles, women’s clothing borrowed many characteristics from men’s
clothing and favored simplicity.
At that time of in the early Republic of China, clothing was also in transition. After the
establishment of the Republic of China, western culture flooded into China, and modern ideas of
western clothing began to impact men and women along the east coast. Traditional conservative
clothing disappeared. Everything changed drastically. Particularly, “in Shanghai, fashion changes so
quickly that three years seem like a generation” [8]. It was in semifeudal and semicolonial society
that women's status in cities had risen in some way, though it didn’t change much on the whole. The
women's liberation movement on May 4th emphasized that "women can do whatever men can
do"[9]. Women dressing almost the same as men symbolized the emergence of a new gender
relationship[10]. For example, in 1926 women wore loose qipao similar to men’s long robes.
Conservative woman wouldn’t dare to try it, because they thought it could possibly lead to gender
confusion. Only fashionable women and intellectual Fig.s had the courage to do so. During the
Northern Expedition, women joined the army and did what men did. Loose qipao that resembled
men’s wear served their intentions[11].Therefore, androgynous style was still simple in the early
20th century, shown as women wearing men’s clothing or clothes that looked like men’s. During
World War II, men went to the front while women worked in the rear. Due to the severe shortage of
materials, there was almost no difference between men’s and women’s clothing. Pants, shirts, work
clothes, and short hair became popular attire during this period, which might have laid the ground
for androgynous clothing after the war.
Postmodern androgynous style — development of gender-free fashion
Androgynous style in postmodern society was divided into two phases of development, one from
the late 1940s to the late 1980s and the other from the 1990s to the early 21st century. The late
1940s were referred to as "postmodern society". The core concept of androgynous style in the
postmodern society was cool. Cool style was a new form of individualism and an adaption of
democratic lifestyle for post-industrial consumption, which had anti-social implications. The
modern form of cool style started to develop in the early 20th century among American black jazz
musicians, and was copied by white young men such as Elvis Presley and other rock ’n’ roll
musicians in the 1950s. Afterwards women began to become cool as well. Unique and fashionable
outfits and hairstyles were always the key to being cool.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Levi’s jeans rose in fashion at that time, because their jeans were most
closely related to the blue collar working class. The phrase "blue collar" refers to working coats
made of blue denim. Young middle-class children considered wearing blue denim rebellious[12].
Now, jeans have become a routine standard of androgynous clothing. T-shirt, jeans, canvas shoes
and short hair are the standards of androgynous style. Especially by wearing clothing like this,
women appear simple and competent. In the 1970s, the feminist movement had a great influence,
which to some degree upset the male-centered social structure and provided both a social and a
mental foundation for androgynous clothing. Along with the transition from pre-modern society to
modern society, and to postmodern society, feminism evolved from clothing the same styles as
men’s, to different styles from men’s, and then beyond the boundaries of gender. It was a movement
from a low level to a high level, from rough to elegant and mature styles[13]. At this time,
androgynous clothing originated from the punk style. Pioneering fashion designer Vivienne
Westwood, referred to as “the Mother of Punk” designed the punk look in the 1970s, that is, a
T-shirt that looked like fishnet matched with a black mini-skirt, a pair of extravagant boots, and
metal accessories. The avant-garde look had made her the most outstanding modern woman
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designer rebelling against traditional fashions.
In the late 1970s in China, people were all pursuing the liberation of thought. However, it didn’t
work out as well in clothing as the only prevailing colors were the “Three Old Colors” (blue, black,
and grey) and the “Three Old Outfits” (Chinese tunic suits, young men’s jackets, and army
uniforms). There was no fashion but uniforms at that time[14]. The 1980s went back to a sTable,
conservative, and complacent society from turmoil, rebelliousness, defiance. The aggressive
elements from the 1960s and 1970s were absorbed by mainstream fashion design, so they no longer
held on to the force of resistance. During that period, individual career performance and materialism
were emphasized. Compared with the period of ideological-dominated culture in the past 20 years,
it was a big change. Men began to pay more attention to appearances under the influence of “The
Yuppie Culture". At that time, there were two schools in the fashion world. One was represented by
Yuppies like Armani, Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein, pursuing elegant, fashionable design. Thus
suits designed by Armani in 1978 were still popular in the 1980s; broad shoulders gave both an air
of authority and masculine charm and an androgynous and exquisite touch. This way of dressing
formed the general characteristics of clothing in the 1980s, that is, “dress for success”— harmless,
non-aggressive, and representative of economic and social status. But the other school represented
by Westwood and Galtier had the most rich, odd, colorful designs, full of provocation to traditional
characteristics of gender. Androgynous style clothing was among the designs in both of the schools.
With yuppies, men’s androgynous style was expressed in a mild way, where the clothing was
slightly modified on the basis of the existing styles and was given a more gentle and elegant touch.
Armani suits for men and women became staple items of this kind.
In the 1980s, Klein broke the traditional strict social norms in fashion design, and boldly brought
androgynous style into the men’s clothing, intentionally eliminating the gender difference between
men’s and women’s wear. Vague gender expressions and androgynous colors became unique
characteristics of Klein brand. The way he designed was to infuse drastic and unlimited innovations
in men’s wear, and often directly borrow the style of women’s wear for other design concepts. One
example was related to Gautier. In 1984, he designed suits with stripes and shiny pegs for both men
and women to wear, and skirts, bustles, hip pad for men, and transparent lace dress for male models
displayed in the launch "Men-Object." Meanwhile, after western young men went through the heat
of the hippie and punk styles, the yuppie (or preppy) style became popular. They then began to
pursue high-end brands and comforTable clothes.
Chinese avant-garde youth were also keen to follow the trend, which was signified with the
prevalence of jeans, jackets and suits. From 1990s to the early 21st century, the 1990s marked the
start of globalization, and information overload became the symbol. Thus circulation of fashion
sped up and increasingly shortened the life cycle of fashion. Electronic media and network systems
also gave it a push. With the popularization of computers and the coming of the Internet Age,
humans made the world one family, and rising equality between men and women was gained.
Androgynous styles thoroughly fell into the age of unisex clothing with diversified styles. In an era
of personality, the cool elements of androgynous clothing were being handsome, which did not
necessarily mean to be masculine. Styles such as army uniforms, punk, hippie, and yuppie were
mixed together, forming the new mix-match of androgynous styles. Camouflage, overalls, jeans,
boots, folded reserved brunet, T-shirt with graffiti and letters, vests, baseball caps all merged with
androgynous styles. Both men and women could wear those but presented different temperament.
Androgynous style changed not only the way women dressed but also their attitude toward life. It
helped women become more independent. Androgynous clothing went beyond gender boundaries,
and reduced gap between men and women, bringing them together in equality and freedom.
Advanced Materials Research Vols. 175-176 979
Summary
From the perspective of clothing evolution, early clothes with androgynous style weren’t in the
mainstream and were under severe constraints of society. It didn’t start to develop until modern
society began to emerge. Modern androgynous style was considered as a consequence of the
feminist movement. It did away with the traditional way of thinking and encouraged a practical,
simple and plain way of dressing, which strongly influenced the development of postmodern
androgynous style. The postmodern style is not as distorting as the style in the early stage or as
tough as the style in the middle stage. Instead, it advocates equality between men and women and
blurs the boundary between men and women in design. Despite its negative development in history,
androgynous style has been making progress in a positive way generally. It has become a very
import part of modern fashion.
References
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