On the other hand, at Marni, both men and women wore the same striped stretch jersey dresses, which spiraled around their bodies and were sliced out at the side. And then there were those painful bodysuits and stripper heels on women at Saint Laurent. It was like some sort of camp sultan’s den. I mean, her show started with a dozen shirtless men parading down the runway to different positions, then pulling on silk ropes to get a ceiling covering undulating. What is happening here?īut it is also true that those who did focus on the bods, like Donatella Versace, did so in a traditionally gendered way. It is the same on both sides of the ocean, whether at an Aaron Potts APOTTS collection that saw models sheathed in body-concealing raffia aprons inspired by the Hamar tribespeople of the Omo River Valley or, on a broader scale, at Valentino, where bodies continue to be draped and enveloped by volumes of fabric as much architectonic as organic. Yet regardless of the quality of the designs we’re seeing, the mood can seem austere to the point of being puritanical.
G.T.: There is a lot of beautiful stuff out there. That’s actually how the New York City Commission on Human Rights interpreted the law pertaining to office dress codes a few years ago: An employer could require employees to wear certain garments, but only if both sexes could wear the same garments (e.g., if women had to wear heels, so did men).Īnd if we are still freaked out by men in dresses and skirts, as arguably most people outside of this tiny fashion sector are, is that perhaps because we are still clinging to old power structures? Is it seen as somehow disempowering for men to have access to classically female clothes? That it somehow … weakens them, since women are supposedly the “weaker sex.” Fashion may be ahead of the curve on this one. By the end of season, it had become so common, it barely registered with me. At Marni, we saw giant shreddy sweaters with big flowers on both men and women. At Valentino: washed taffeta in chocolate, violet and bright green on her the same on him. So we’d see classically “girlie” clothes in bright colors, soft fabrics and lots of decoration, only they were worn by guys.Īt Raf Simons: skirt suit on her skirt suit on him.
This wasn’t gender fluidity or gender neutrality or dual gender - all hybrids that have been thrown around to refer to shows that combine men’s and women’s collections, say, or feature clothes that are sort of generic and not really identifiable by the traditional categories of gendered dressing. Vanessa Friedman: Guy, I was thinking of you during the last two weeks of Milan and Paris shows because while they were nominally “women’s wear,” that term and its corollary - “men’s wear” - your bailiwick - seem increasingly meaningless. Here, our two critics debate why, and what that may signify in terms of gender identity, sexuality and society. One of the biggest trends of the spring 2022 fashion shows that just ended was not any particular silhouette or color, but rather the fact that many designers put both women and men on their runways in what once would have been termed “women’s wear” - not so much as provocation but simply as a matter of fact.