(Barnard, Malcolm, 2002, Fashion as Communication, Routledge; 2 edition)
However, in western areas of the world, some individuals find it almost striking to see such feminine garments worn by males in public, especially in regards to everyday wear or even stage wear, and ignore the idea that certain men may be trying to communicate their identity openly, without the necessity of religion or rituals to do so. Scottish kilts however, still remains an important symbolic trait of the Scottish identity encouraging men to wear tartan skirts to represent the heritage of their Scottish society.
Masai Street Style, Photography by
Michelle Oberholzer in Cape Town, South Africa
Ewan McGregor classifies the kilt as the Scottish man's "dinner jacket" for special occasions.
In this post I deliberately wanted to discuss a rising avant-garde trend that is occurring, which has seen men rebel against their masculine expectations in terms of fashion, and embark upon something rather socially expected to be women's trend. This is increasingly something seen within designer's collections over the past few years, on the runways for resort or ready to wear fashion.
For example, Damir Doma portrays iconoclasm by designing an edgy collection for his Spring/Summer menswear collection for 2016, repeatedly showing an acknowledgement of liberation, social changes and an acceptance of cultural diversity for male fashion. Doma is not the only designer who has taken on this statement trend. Designers such as Rick Owens, the godfather of brutal chic, is known for his extremely controversial ways of looking at both male and female garments and his explicitness through nudity. He does this intentionally to outrage the public, to communicate a message to his viewers that style is not about restrictions but about freedom for humans to wear what they want and to blur the lines of fashion to create androgynous values. He definitely follows a judgement that skirts really are not just garments for women. Therefore, he challenges the dominant ideology for fashion and clothing by drawing attention to unnaturalness of male fashion, creating commodities for his audience. Craig Green has also been noted to take on this risky style on the runway which was seen specifically in his Spring/Summer 2015 collection. However, unlike Doma, Greens garments almost resemble pieces of abstract militaristic art.
Damir Doma Menswear Spring 2016 collection
Rick Owen's 2016 Spring Menswear collection
Craig Green Spring 2015 Menswear collection
Although this androgynous image has been fashions captivating chameleon for quite a few years now, along with male models on the catwalk, the male skirt is also being worn by popular rappers, singers and actors of the 21st century. Kanye West and P Diddy have both rocked the male skirt, translating true Scottish spirit on stage and Vin Diesel was also pictured flaunting a leather version of the apparel during the MTV Europe Music Awards in 2003. The male ideology of fashion is therefore becoming quite deceiving and misleading as it is becoming more frequent for these masculine men to wear skirts, even if it is in some cases devoted to Scottish culture. These men are definitely quite daring with their hit or miss fashion statements even if they fashion police are pulling them over for it!
In contrast, we are also seeing women do the same by embracing men's fashion. This dates all the way back to the 1930's, in terms of Yves Saint Laurent tailored suits and white shirts. The androgynous fashion has carried on right up until today in the 21st century as stars such as Tilda Swinton and Annie Lennox have become androgynous icons for women. Even designers such as Calvin Klein have furthered this trend by promoting an iconic women's line of underwear sets including boxers, replicating the male versions, but pairing them with a matching sports bra to maintain womanly silhouettes.
Tilda Swinton - L’Uomo Vogue by Paolo Roversi, September 2008 (Right image top row)
Tilda Swinton channelling David Bowie in Vogue Italia 2003. Photographed by Craig McDean (second row)
Calvin Klein Women's Classic Logo Boyshorts and Sports Bra
Escalating this point further, in many advert campaigns, films and media we are seeing more transgendered narratives that relate to the idea of men swapping menswear for a more feminine look. The upcoming film 'The Danish Girl' based on David Ebershoff's novel, see's Eddie Redmayne take on the role of a male from Denmark in the 1920's who slowly embarks upon the transformative journey to becoming a woman. Although this point is more extreme than those I have made earlier in this post, I wanted to show that there are many different ways androgyny can be portrayed and through media and film, this theme has become quite determinately mainstream and melodramatic. Therefore, transgender is neither a fad nor a micro trend that some may ignorantly argue in favour of, but something we have been seeing for a long time now, over many decades, and more and more insight is being developed upon the idea.
Eddie Redmayne as Einar/Lili in 'The Danish Girl'
Thank you for reading,
as always,
Kate x
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