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Androgyny — what’s old is new again

Androgyny — what’s old is new again

A Queer History
of Fashion:
From the Closet
to the Catwalk
The Museum at the Fashion
Institute of Technology
September 13, 2013 –
January 4, 2014

courtesy of
The Museum at FIT.

88.134.28_20130404_01Androgyny is a word being used more frequently in fashion, particularly as it relates to how women see their style. But this is not a new concept. Each generation has found its own ways of challenging gender norms. Throughout, it has been the queer community in each generation leading the way.

Most recently, fashion in the ’70s and early ’80s was very gender neutral — if not flamboyant. This is the era of David Bowie, Grace Jones, Freddy Mercury, Rod Stewart and Elton John. Men, gay and straight, wore platform shoes and shiny spandex. And women wore bellbottom jeans, button downs and blazers.

All the while, androgyny, gender bending and other influences by the LGBT community to fashion go back even further than the modern era. And the Queer History of Fashion exhibit at the Museum of the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City explores that.

The exhibit, which runs until Jan. 4, takes you through fashion history and the influences the queer community has had on society.Gaultier_P92.8.1

You’ll learn lesbians have been known throughout history as the ones traditionally pushing the gender edges with their day-to-day fashion.  History shows women who didn’t want to subscribe to clothing that fit the gender norms created their own versions. This isn’t about high fashion — this is about everyday fashion being more reflective of sexuality, political views and practical use.

These examples throughout history come from all directions of the queer spectrum. And this time in fashion is no different.

Just a few miles away from the museum, a queer fashion show hosted by Drapper Q and DJ Whitney Day in Brooklyn, was a celebration of queer designers pushing gender edges with fashion. In fact, one of the designers featured a clothing line titled “Androgyny.” The fashion perspective this show focused on was predominantly women wearing clothes that mimic men’s clothes — a butch spin on men’s clothes mimicking what women of the 19th Century wore.

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