Androgyny in fashion
[2] Macaroni was a term used to refer to a group of young, urban English men in the 1760s–1770s who adopted ostentatious, effeminate dress.
[3] The style Macaronis adopted was more similar to the fashions of France and Italy, "retaining pastel color, pattern and ornament, at a time when their use was being displaced by more sober dressing in England.
[4] Cycling suits, for example, kept the feminine silhouette but incorporated masculine elements, like waistcoats, neckties and bifurcated skirts.
[10] Such popular women at the time like Frida Kahlo,[11] Audrey Hepburn,[8] and Coco Chanel[12][13] were proud examples of La Garçonne fashion, exemplifying how clothes do not make someone more or less feminine, but rather the body and physiological anatomical differences beneath them.
Outside the world of high fashion, working women of this era sometimes wore masculine-style bib overalls for factory or manual labor.
[14] Sportswear of the 1920s and 30s became more masculine after significant issues through the previous two decades,[15] reflecting general trends, and following in the footsteps of previous generations.Queer people of this era were often consciously gender non-conforming, for example, sailor suits were adopted by both queer men and women due to the "military exoticism and gender-blurring possibilities" becoming "a recognizable signifier of an emerging gay and bisexual identity" [16]
When the Rolling Stones played London's Hyde Park in 1969, Mick Jagger wore a white 'man's dress' by British designer Mr Fish.
Another significant influence during this time included John Travolta, one of the androgynous male heroes of the post-counter-culture disco era, who starred in Grease and Saturday Night Fever.
The complexity of 1980s power dressing, however, is reflected in film with movies like "Working Girl" where power-dressing is central to the plot, but even so, the heroine is portrayed as having softer and gentler style than her villainous boss.
Designers like Yamamoto believe that the idea of androgyny should be celebrated, as it is an unbiased way for an individual to identify with one's self, and that fashion is purely a catalyst for this.
Because of events like this, gender fluidity in fashion has been discussed in the media regarding Lady Gaga, Ruby Rose, and in Tom Hooper's film The Danish Girl.
Colombian-American photographer Ruven Afandor has also been credited with pushing the border of androgyny by presenting a photo album of young flat-chested men in usually feminine outfits.
[33] The Memoirs of the Future collection being shown in Manila by Filipino fashion designer Ellis Co presents a cohesive set of 44 different dark and blocky gender-ambiguous outfits.
