Zara's genderless movement in high street fashion

Over the past few weeks I have heard many rumours about this genderless collection that has been kept on the down low by the high street Spanish brand Zara, then last Friday the collection finally dropped and it seems to have caused quite a stir and a mixture of different reviews across the fashion industry. Therefore, I thought I would share my view on it and find out why it did not really live up to people's expectations and why there were so many mixed reports.

 As you may have seen in my post a couple of days ago I mentioned the trend of gender fluidity which has especially been embedded into Louis Vuitton's editorial for SS16 featuring Jaden Smith but it seems that Zara has also brought this revolutionary trend for 2016 to the high street. Will it change the way we look at fashion for good? Another question is; did it worked as well for Zara as it did for Louis Vuitton? My honest opinion is a definite no and here is why....

On Zara's website they have created an ungendered feature which includes sixteen different pieces which can be worn by either men or women. However, there is a catch which could be a possible reason why an unsatisfied backlash has occurred against the high street brand over the past few days and this catch is the fact that the collection is extremely and unbelievably minimalistic and very basic. This is because the clothing has neither personality, identity or even caters towards a specific innovative style that we would hope from such a forward thinking, European brand in the 21st century. I almost feel like I have gone back to the nineties with what appears to be a representation of rather dull fashion and what we would expect to be sold in GAP or even Primark. (Too harsh, but it had to be said.) Furthermore, if I am honest, I thought that the collection swerved towards a more masculine type of fashion with its use of slouchy unfitted silhouettes and promotion of casual gym wear and therefore, it does not really offer any feminine touches to create this gender fluidity that the brand had in mind.

However, regardless of whether the collection was impressive or not, this movement by Zara demonstrates that further steps are being taken in the industry for popular brands to create and communicate genderless clothing. This is definitely a trend that is here to stay and I can already say that Zara will not be the only high street brand to be taking this idea on board within their future collections. I mean if Target, a supermarket in America is already starting to take on this genderless approach, then who's to say that TopShop or H&M won't be putting their own twist on the genderless concept in the next year for their Generation Z and Y consumers.

Follow the link below to see the Ungendered collection by Zara
Zara Ungendered

What do you think about Zara's genderless movement? Let me know your opinion...