It was cold in South Florida last weekend! Ok, cool, but it was 58 degrees last Saturday morning. I can feel the eye rolls through the internet screen. Oh, but don't feel sorry for me because we all pretend winter when that happens and break out our sweaters.
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| H&M's Genderless Offering |
According to the Campfire Capital site: Gender is a hot topic in the broader culture and retailers are tapping into the phenomenon with their own definitions of gender, through unisex, gender-neutral and androgynous lines.
For example, last year, way ahead of unisex catching on in the U.S., U.K. store Selfridges opened a pop-up retail experience called “Agender,” featuring sexless mannequins in clothes by Gareth Pugh and Haider Ackermann. It was a bold move, but mostly a marketing experiment [ploy]. As fashion writer Katherine Whitehorn pointed out in the Guardian, ordinary pants, shirts or sweaters are all genderless already.
Just to push the envelope a little this past weekend, I grabbed my Polo Flag sweater (unmistakable boat neck), skinny girl jeans and white slip on shoes. Would there be a reaction? The morning was breakfast out, a trip to my mall's Macy's, and a weeks shopping at the market later that afternoon.
No one cared, and, as far as I could see, no one noticed. I would love to say this was just an androgynous look, but there was a bit more to it than that. A very normal day in spite of the "bitter cold".
A South Florida weather update: Tomorrow, March 5, the high temperature is expected to be 91 degrees. Back to the shorts and t-shirt.
Is how others will react holding you back?
I agree that we are at the point where nobody cares how you dress and present yourself. Just look around. A decade or two ago any man or woman covered with tattoos or with multiple piercings or oddly dyed hair would raise an eyebrow or two. Today no one merits a second look. I was stopped at a light in DC yesterday and a group of school kids passed. I guess their age was middle to lower HS. Thye were neatly dressed and perhaps were wearing a sort of school uniform. All but one of the girls had hair dyed purple or day glo orange and two of the young men had obviously dyed hair, one purple, one light blond (in part).
ReplyDeleteYou are short and from my assessment of your photos you can and do pass as a woman. I am over 6' tall before I put on my 3" pumps and I am a large man with a large frame that did me well playing HS football. I do not think that anyone presumes that I am a woman but when I am aout while dressed I am treated nicely, like anyone else. If I am in a restaurant I do not perceive curious looks. I think that we are at the point where no one really cares....except us and our loved ones.
Sorry but I just had to giggle at the "Eye roll" comment. I live in the central part of the state and I had to wear leggings under my jeans and an over sized sweater under my jacket on several occasions this year.
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