Sink your queer teeth into some tips for the best Androgynous Fashion
You don’t need a finger on the pulse to know that ‘androgyny’ has taken over the fashion industry. Getting so much air time in both fringe and mainstream media, many people have already begun to subcategorise this gender-blended phenomenon. But what exactly is androgyny in the first place?
By Wikipedia’s definition, it is, “A combination of masculine and feminine characteristics.” What does that mean in terms of fashion? It’s total deliverance from menswear/womenswear gendered prescriptions.
Androgynous fashion is about ambiguity – gender and sexual ambiguity, to be specific. It’s about blurring traditional lines of gender divisions and giving yourself the freedom to express exactly who you are aesthetically. Whether you consider yourself ‘non-binary,’ ‘genderqueer,’ ‘gender fluid,’ ‘gender-neutral,’ ‘agender’ or even ‘pangender,’ androgynous fashion can be liberating. It gives us freedom of identity.
Clothes are political. What we wear sends a message to the world. Is it any surprise, really, that androgynous fashion is most popular among queers and women – two marginalised groups who are currently pressing for equality? Androgynous fashion was born out of political rebellion. Tomboy fashion is really just an FU to a ‘man’s world.’ It’s a way for women to showcase and express their confidence in their ‘masculine qualities,’ dressing the part to perform any gendered task they please.
Whether consciously realised or not, Queer folks dress androgynously to make political statements about gender, gender roles and sexuality. Politicism is at the essence of queer culture. We won’t be bed to one sex or wed to one gender. And we most certainly won’t be stuck performing genders of bodies we don’t identify with. Society is just going to have to deal with that. Whether your vibe is Tomboy rebellion, or your own brand of genderqueer, you’re changing the world by being exactly who you are. How rad is that?! Go you!
Not only is androgynous clothing liberating politically and personally, it’s trendy and hot AF. What’s sexier than someone confidently being themselves, knowing who they are and not caring what anyone else has to say about it? Nothing. That’s what!
So how does one go about dressing androgynously, exactly?
We asked some of the hottest non-binary dressers in the game. Here is what they had to say:
