Excited about the future of Menswear

I think I should start with saying I've always felt like an anachronism. Well, maybe not always, but since I was able to feel like a misfit - I would always tell myself that if I were in another time period, everything in my life would fall in place and be the perfect fit. And that's how I fell in love with the Dresden Dolls and Amanda Palmer. Well, that is true, but it's besides the point. :)

I used to imagine myself always in the past, be that the 1960s, 1970s, all those decades full of my favorite music, and often I would romanticise times much, much further back. I would always pay more attention to myths I was told by my culture studies teachers (I was a very lucky girl and went to schools with incredible subjects) than to the facts I was told in history class. Later on though, when I realised that a lot of blood, sweat and tears is concealed in the history section of any library I started reading up on the martyrs of the past (because I was convinced that with 'evil' Pandora's box also held the beginnings of art)

A Facebook Timeline cover of a Saint Martins student

Realising that the past isn't perfect led me to see that the present has many imperfections as well. But when they slowly become conquered, when science revolutionises our lives, when taboos are broken and myths (the harmful ones, not the romantic ones) exposed - I become very excited and inspired. Right now I want to talk about menswear finally allowing the 'Modern Man' to wear 'feminine clothes'. Hopefully this trend evolves and stays.

Christopher Owens (SWOON!) for Interview by Craig McDean

Chris Owens is pretty progressive and was already seen to embrace traditional femininity - remember how he sported a crop top in "Honey Bunny"? (Oh gosh, I just re-watched that video again and I want to roll around in bed with him SO MUCH NOW!!!)

I found this photo and the one below sourceless, and reverse image searching has brought me nothing but links to my own blogs.. I'd love to know whose work this is, as it is fantastic

Ahhh I love the red laced mesh and the model's beautiful nails! Every detail communicates fragility in beauty.

These two photos are just SO, SO fantastic! Perhaps it's something about what attracts me personally - I absolutely adore lace, frills and material flowing around the body, and I love seeing it on male bodies. My mother used to tell me that she feels like a "real woman" when she wears a beautiful long skirt, and much less so when wearing any variation of pants or shorts. To some extent I felt the same thing when I would put on a dress, there's something you feel, something like the wind or a flowing creek (note that this feeling occurs around the thighs and legs and makes you feel slightly vulnerable, unlike flowing cloaks that give you a majestic feeling in the shoulders) that you would associate with the word 'feminine', and as a young girl I kept that feeling reserved for 'special' days. Now that I reject all ideas of feminine vs masculine all I remember from the dresses was the beautiful flowing feeling, and I think it shouldn't be reserved for women only. Men should also have the luxury to feel beautiful, vulnerable and secretly powerful all at once through wearing dresses, skirts, lace and the like. 

More of Craig McDeans work

I'm not really a big fan of the dip-dye craze that has passed, to me it was like a lot of people enjoyed the look of coloured hair but couldn't commit to it, and I felt as if they should go all the way. Silly, I know. I think Chris looks fly though. Note that this is also 'stereotypically female' - I haven't seen a man do it until now. Also I LOVE the semi-transparent dress. I wonder if this kind of dress is more wearable for men or women - men aren't supposed to wear dresses, and women aren't supposed to expose their nipples.. I guess this outfit is more 'acceptable' on a man, really. FOOD FOR THOUGHT.

I'm a little afraid that my blog is turning into a Christopher Owens appreciation blog :) . If I tagged my posts, his tag would probably be the most popular one. There's something about the persona he portrays in all of his 'Girls' music videos (I think his solo work has a slightly different one) that just fits perfectly into my idea of a perfect boyfriend.

from rickowenslondon's instagram account

rickowenslondon

rickowenslondon

I don't think the last photograph has an actual dress on it, but if you squint a little, it looks like one - and the whole vibe changes, doesn't it? That's what I'm talking about!

From URB clothing's Eggert collection. 

I don't really like this particular item of clothing, but URB have a name for this garment that is worth sharing: A Mendress. Never heard of that term before, have you? Do you like it?

I'd like to quote a dialog I found on Hari Nef's tumblr in response to the J.W. Anderson FW13 collection (in the video):

- I feel like this interpretation of a soft touch to menswear is probably too literal. Definitely too literal for my personal taste. This is borderline CD/TV fashion. I like androgyny with a more sophisticated flare. 

- (Hari:) I understand where you’re coming from, especially if you visualize menswear as a fixed genre to be “softened” or “lightened” or perhaps “feminized” as an aesthetic flourish, rather than to be overhauled as a paradigm. I am of the latter opinion. I just felt so much profound happiness and relief, seeing this collection, as a genderfluid male-bodied person who prefers to wear “feminine” garments as daywear and eveningwear alike without so much laborious “feminine” adornment to my body (makeup, padding). “Androgyny with sophistication” recalls the oppressive line between menswear and womenswear as it relates to standards of class and respectability; this line is a constant locus of frustration for me, occasionally of anguish. Though clearly this is a “menswear” collection, I feel like it disposes with binary aesthetics in a way that feels purely aesthetic, almost referenceless. I strive to live in that gray area, and so few designers wish to go there with me!

Speaking of Hari, you should probably just google the name to find some amazing inspiration. It would be unfair to post only one or two photographs of him, because all of her photos are amazing. 

Yes, I'm playing around with pronouns just to mess with you. Why shouldn't I?

By Yugay Yan

Hopefully men's fashion evolves into an art form where the male body is the primary subject, and not 'masculine' clothing. Hopefully dresses, skirts, jewelry and make-up becomes as genderless as pants and shirts are, and the only thing dividing men's and women's sections in clothing becomes the tailoring. Hopefully, someday, there is no need to divide them by gender, but only by body type.

From londonfashionbypaul

I hope that sometime soon asking a boy to wear a dress wouldn't be considered as a dare or as a joke.

From Iggy Pop's well known photo shoot in a dress

I hope that soon everyone memorizes this Iggy Pop quote. I hope that people start to argue with it by saying "But this isn't a woman's dress! This is a man's dress, because it's mine, and I'm a man. Although there is nothing shameful in being a woman."

unknown source :(

I hope that these clothes become clothes for everyone, not only women, drag queens, members of the LGBTQA* community, liberals and fashion heads.

From this post.

While working on this post, I stumbled upon this link:

You might be a feminist if you find a man in a dress to be a glorious thing.

You just might. Ta! ♡