Gender Neutral

5 Nov 2015 – Menswear is going toward a dauntless modernity. There will be no different between men or women’s clothing. Also more men wears make-up and it becomes more and more normal for a women to make up as a men. And products are to focused on a stereotype of gender, can it be gender neutral? How gender slowly disappears.

Androgyny is a term that is a part of all this. It means, that for outsiders it’s hard to see if someone is a female or male. Remarkably nowadays people don’t see it as strange, but are following this trend. More and more women wants to wear menswear without being a tomboy. And men’s fashion shows are becoming more popular. Designers from whom always starts designing from the elegance and female silhouettes, started designing menswear with a female touch. They are also bringing menswear collection out, for example Andrew Holden.

coco rocha menMenswear for women by Andrew Holden

And it’s not only in clothes, but also in make-up. More and more men are starting to use make-up. In 2013, Marc Jacobs released an unisex make-up line and Tom Ford released a make-up line for only men. There is also an article in Marie Claire, number 2 from 2015, called Boyhood. How to make up to look like a men. Men and women are playing with make-up, that the difference between male and female will be invisible. Men can with make-up look like a women and vice versa.


Another thing, this has nothing to do with androgyny, but it’s also a trend in gender neutral. Saana Hellsten, a designer from Finland decided to redesign products that are unisexual and called it Basik. The products are like shaving products and medicine. The products are looking gender neutral. With no stereotypical styling, like pink for women and blue for men.

basik shaving products Basik medicines
Basik line by Saana Hellsten

Menswear in stores are a little boring and not rough enough. The retail wants to play safe and don’t want the risk that nobody buys clothes if it’s to eccentric. They also have to dare and must surprise people. After all, we want to distinguish more and more from others. It’s tricky to design wearable menswear that isn’t boring, but has too stands out and is not too much. Wearable clothing has to be creative without running for crazy.

And more men are wearing make-up, because they feel pressure to look good and fit. The image of masculinity how it used to be has changed. More women are taking the roles of men in. The border between men and women is no longer anymore. Why shouldn’t men wear make-up to look good too. Marc Jacobs brings out the unisex make-up line, because he thinks that everything is possible for men and women.

And why don’t I have seen such statements as Saana Hellsten with her Basik line? She was thinking the same about gender neutrality. Most products are packaged in the style of the stereotype of a gender. Why should there be a different in gender, if the products works the same for both. It’s just all physical difference. A feminine visual style for women products that must look soft and sensitive and by men strong and powerful. She wants to ban those stereotypical vision of gender.

Menswear aren’t just designed with emotion, but they shows more dare, guts and are more eccentric. Men nowadays knows how to dress better and what suits them. They dare to dress more individual and to be different from others. Menswear collections have become rougher and qualitatively better. They are now catching up to bring a new image of menswear and to make something new.

Tom Ford make up for menAnd there was a time, it’s totally abnormal for men to use make-up. It was and people still thinks it’s for homosexuals, because it’s a damage for the masculinity of men. The change nowadays is that more heterosexual men are beginning to use make-up too. The meaning of masculinity has becoming vague, that it’s becoming more normal for men to use make-up to look good.

The shift in Basik line from Saana Hellsten is the disappearing of gender stereotypes.

It depends on the men if men’s fashion will stay alive and makes menswear popular. Men have to be curious and must be daring and trying everything out. More and more menswear are interwoven with woman’s clothing, that the different between the gender will disappear. Which can’t be seen or someone wears women’s clothing or men’s clothing. There also will be more variation in the collections between menswear and womenswear, because this can be a new clothing era.

Make-up for men can be in the future very normal, because nowadays not all people think it’s not normal for men to wear make-up. In the future the women can look like men and men can look like women and both. All together. And the same with products. The stereotype of product styling with gender could disappear. That pink and blue is for everybody and that there will be no difference in pink and blue as gender stereotype.

There can be a future with gender neutrality. By clothing, make-up and packaging. A future where it doesn’t matter if someone is a male or female.


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