Agender, at Selfridges
Like most cultural shifts in this day and age, evolution in the fashion world often starts in the streets and on social media before making its way into the corporate board rooms of fashion houses, onto the runways, and into major retail stores. Japanese teenagers rocked maximalist, cartoony street style long before Gwen Stefani co-opted kawaii, and streetwear was a form of self-expression for African American men before Jeremy Scott began selling hoodies and sweat suits to the fashion elite. Similarly, people — especially queer and trans folks — have been perfecting the art of gender non-conforming style for ages, and the high-end fashion world is starting to follow suit. Check out vintage photos of 19th-century lesbians in menswear or browse the keyword “androgynous” on Tumblr, and you’ll see that there’s a great demand for gender-neutral styles — and has been for a long time.
While androgyny has sporadically popped up as a runway trend over the years, what have been missing are places for gender non-conforming people to shop without getting uncomfortable stares for browsing in the “wrong” section. However, UK department store chain Selfridges is embracing a gender-fluid mindset and commendably taking a step in the right direction. Their new concept shop, Agender, opens on March 12 and will take over two floors of their Oxford Street location in London. Additionally, they will have dedicated Agender displays in the Manchester and Birmingham stores and online.
Gucci’s Fall 2015 Menswear collection. Photo courtesy of Yannis Vlamos / Indigitalimages.com.
Agender will feature a variety of high-end unisex clothing lines by designers such as Toogood, Rad Hourani, Comme des Garçons, Meadham Kirschhoff, and Gareth Pugh. Faye Toogood, an interior and furniture designer and co-creator of Toogood, will create neutral displays incorporating curated artwork that interrogates the concept of gender.
While many indie brands have experimented with genderless design, this is the first time a big box retailer is defying society’s gender norms in such an outspoken way. But still, there seems to be some trepidation. Selfridges appears to be testing out the concept’s commercial viability and Agender will only run until the end of April. The question will be whether a store without gendered clothing, marketing, or displays can entice straight people with more traditional gender presentations. After all, people from the LGBTQ community have primarily been the ones to pioneer gender non-conforming attire — not just those who shop designer, but people of more modest means, as well. However, seeing as LGBTQ people only comprise a small percentage of the population, a mainstream, gender-neutral store cannot rely solely on their support.
Toogood lookbook. Courtesy of Toogood.
Selfridges Creative Director, Linda Hewson, believes that increasingly fluid norms of dress and behaviour for men and women have created a demand for stores like Agender. “[Agender] is not about harnessing a trend, but rather tapping into a mindset and acknowledging and responding to a cultural shift that is happening now,” Hewson said in an interview with WWD. “The project will act as a test bed for experimentation around ideas of gender — both to allow our shoppers to approach the experience without preconceptions and for us as retailers to move the way we shop fashion forward.”
As Hewson insinuated, it’s no coincidence androgyny is gaining visibility in pop culture and fashion as feminism and the trans movement garner mainstream attention. From the tuxedos of Brangelina’s gender non-conforming eight-year-old, John Jolie-Pitt, to rapper Young Thug’s dresses and actress Kristen Stewart’s butch beach wear, gender-bending looks have been spotted on celebrities and Pre-Fall 2015 runways alike. As Hewson pointed out, the prevalence of androgynous styles symbolizes a wider acceptance of the many possibilities of self-expression.
Comme des Garçons Spring 2015 collection. Photo courtesy of Yannis Vlamos / Indigitalimages.com.
While some queer women embrace bow ties and pocket squares and some queer men dabble in leggings and skorts, it’s important to note that specific clothing items shouldn’t be equated with a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Instead, viewing garments for what they are — pieces of fabric with which to swathe our bodies — opens us up to a huge variety of ways to style ourselves. Men, women, and non-binary people alike can all make their bodies look soft and delicate, efficient and structural, outlandishly sculptural, and anything beyond. Despite what fashion magazines have told us for so long, our bodies weren’t made for any specific sartorial silhouettes. How we present them is for us to decide.
Cristine Cardenas, a filmmaker based in Los Angeles who describes her style as “butch,” advocates for freeing our fashion choices from deeply ingrained gender stereotypes. “I would love to see people get more comfortable with gender non-conforming clothing in general. I’ve never been approached and asked if I needed anything in a men’s section before,” she said. “I definitely think stores that toss away gender would be successful. Maybe there’s a fear that people would avoid those types of stores because of how different it is, but is it really that different than, say, somewhere like Gap selling boyfriend jeans? Why can’t we just call them jeans?”
Fortunately, those stereotypes seem to slowly be whittling away. While women are typically the ones expected to show skin, for example, Rick Owens subverted this expectation with his latest menswear runway show, where models walked down the catwalk in tunics so short their penises were in full view. Many found the presentation off-putting, but it held up a mirror to the ways we are used to seeing female bodies portrayed sexually without giving it a second thought.
Meanwhile, brands like Toogood are working to detach clothing items from the gender identities of their wearers. Their eponymous fashion line’s lookbook features a male and female model with identical buzz cuts and white briefs showcasing her architectural outerwear.
“We shall sweep aside the crumbling detritus of plutocrat designers and clear the way for a new aesthetic rooted in individuality and honesty, a liberating mode that is available to all, male and female, old and young,” states Toogood’s manifesto. Their and Selfridges’ endeavour with Agender seeks to further this mission, but time will only tell whether the project will have a lasting impact on retail beyond the two months that it will be open. But with the gender-neutral clothing market virtually untapped, the shop may pave the way for greater access to clothing that helps us define who we are and how we present ourselves, and not the other way around.
Text von Nastia Voynovskaya
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