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New gender-neutral clothing boutique aims to transform fashion

New gender-neutral clothing boutique aims to transform fashion

Hundreds of shoppers attended the November 3rd grand opening of {A•(s)He}, an innovate clothing store on south Broadway that eschews the classifications of women’s and men’s apparel.

“Fashion should be assigned by size and not by gender,” said Ashe Bowen, owner and operator of {A•(s)Hē}. “And I think that a lot of people don’t really assign themselves to a specific gender (for clothing) even if they are heterosexual. It really has to do with the way that the store is arranged and the way that clothes are assigned, because it’s assumed that that’s masculine or feminine.”

Bowen said the idea for {A•(s)Hē} grew out of her own personal frustrations browsing for outfits. “It’s from years and years of going to the men’s department, picking out my clothes, taking them back to the women’s dressing room awkwardly, and just having an uncomfortable experience shopping.”

Bowen is not alone. On opening day, several customers commented on how grateful they were for the boutique’s unique design. “Someone came up to me and said, ‘this is the first time I’ve ever tried on clothes in a store and felt actually comfortable doing so.’”

ashe03Bowen has an abiding zeal to work for herself, influenced strongly by her upbringing. “Everyone in my family owns a business,” she said. She continued the family tradition of entrepreneurship by supporting herself as a hairdresser for almost 10 years and still offers that expertise to customers at {A•(s)Hē}.

Bowen hopes the store will carve a new niche in fashion: “When you look at the runway, they have women modeling as men or men modeling as women, but I don’t see it actually displayed in the stores. So I’m hoping this will start that movement.” Bowen said traditional marketing campaigns are responsible for the way clothes are allocated by sex, “and I feel like that line is becoming more blurred. I’m not trying to promote women wearing men’s clothes, or men wearing women’s clothes, but people wearing whatever fits them.”

Bowen goes to great lengths to find and tailor clothing for her customers. “I have a model — she wanted a men’s suit for a wedding. So I actually flew to New York and shopped for her and then tailored it all to fit her. And if a parent comes in and they want me to shop for them so their kid doesn’t have to shop in the opposite section, I’m more than happy to do that for them.”

For Bowen, the most fulfilling thing about her work is “creating a space that I would want to shop. It’s for the consumer. I’m happy to be doing this, but I’m actually doing this for the community to feel comfortable, and that’s the biggest reward for me, really.”

{A•(s)Hē} is located on 114 S. Broadway. r For more information online, visit as-hestyle.com.

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