By clothing-bag, 12/12/2022

Neutral fashion or 'genderless': the celebration of the design without definition

Trendences Lalm it as you want: neutral genre, or unisex, or 'genderless'.The important thing is to leave behind labels like 'male' and 'female' and concentrate on what matters: be free and feel comfortable

By Martahurtado de Mendoza

Xavi García knows exactly how he wants people who enter 44Store to feel: free.Free to look, free to play, free to choose from, free to try, free to buy, free to leave.No person working in the store conditions the impulse of those who choose something he liked and does not expect him to leave the tester to give his opinion.In fact, the tester is in another plant and whoever enters it is left alone and in total peace of mind to decide whether or not he likes to put on and if he wants to buy it or not.If you need help, you will have it.But it will always be free.44Store is white and most garments are black;All the importance and attention falls on them and the philosophy of its founder and the people who work around them.And how are those garments?As free as those that will take them.There are no woman or woman clothes here;Here are clothes that like and that looks good regardless of who wears it.If the test is a woman will remain in a way.If a man does, from another.But it is not for one or others;it's for everyone.It's neutral gender clothes.Or unisex clothes.Or gender clothes, genderless clothing.There are several ways to call it - a known one, new.

No, the unisex is nothing new.And maybe Genderless is only the Anglo -Saxon concept of rigor that, due to its origin, seems to provide more entity to a trend - Laase Normcore or Health Goth, the most recent ones -.What is new and what is necessary to pay attention is to the attitude of designers, vendors and buyers.An attitude that is above classics like "But is this not as a boy?"Or "willn't they think that I am a woman if I wear this?".An attitude that has overcome many prejudices and not only the concepts of male and female, but also what is traditionally understood by sexy.And it is something that one can see if you look with interest how you dress in the street, how styling is done in all fashion magazines that import - from the most classic to the most avant -garde - and how it is bought in all stores thatmark (and even in those who copy) trend.A blunt fact: in March 2015, that temple of London purchases that is Selfridges, inaugurated three plants completely dedicated to neutral gender fashion - and where you can buy Ann demeulemester, Comme des Garçons, Meadham Kirchoff or Gareth Pugch Pugh- And launched an advertising campaign entitled Agender to make it clear that the thing is seriously.That something big is happening and that it is neither for them, nor for them.It's for everyone."Agender is not the answer to a 'trend'," said a spokesperson for Selfriges."It is our response to a change of thought and mentality that is happening now and of which we witness".

It is not necessary to pilgrimage to London (in plan to go to perpign to watch prohibited movies in the 60 'and 70') to see what this is going.In Madrid, the pieces of artists of the neutral genre like Rad Hourani - the first designer in making a unisex sewing and parading in the week Haute Couture of Paris - Rick Owens, Davidelfin, Jaime Mesa, Franx, Franx, Franx, FranxDe de Cristal, Joe Chia, KTZ...Xavi García is very clear about what he does and what he wants with the fashion he offers in his store: "Feel free and break the rules established between the masculine and the feminine.We are at a time of changes and the public needs to feel free with their image.I have never understood that difference, all human beings have both parties and I do not see necessary.In the store we have different styles, we bet on unisex brands and select garments that can be used for both sexes because everything depends on how they combine ".

It is exactly as David Delphin thinks, the Spanish designer who, always, better knows how to understand and design for the neutral genre."Inferno, my latest collection was completely masculine for the concept that I wanted to develop, and that's why only men paraded.A few days ago, Hiba Abouk came to the studio and several looks were tested for photos and hallucinated how the garments changed on his body, and how well they tied their curves.These are details that show you that you have to transcend the barriers of the feminine and the masculine, "he tells us.He, like Xavi García, believes that we all have both parties and that the search does not have to dominate any, but simply one thing: find what best."In the end, everything is reduced to a matter of genitality, if we get a bit of Freudians," he continues."But on a more practical plane, the challenge is to overcome prejudices and I think we are living an exciting time.I was a teenager in the 80 'and many aesthetic decisions were questioned and judged in terms of' that is a woman '.Paint your nails?Paint your eyes?That was not men.Now I see the boys down the street and I perceive them much freer...And I love that ".

But this perception, as Xavi García says, "is still a minority.The public attracts the idea, but continues to look for the label of a man or woman.We see customers who look at garments they like and ask if it's boy or girl and it's something that surprises me.If you like the garment, it should be the same ".What would you tell all those who feel constrained by this classical division?"Do not get carried away by something so superficial.Each one sees masculinity and femininity in a different way;The important thing is to feel comfortable with the image we carry.The masculine and the feminine has more to do with the attitude than with the costumes, "he reflects.David Delfin coincides with this thought: "The key is in a person's attitude.I have friends who dress with the world's less 'clothes', but who are the most feminine in everything they do.How they speak, how they walk, how they move...And they don't need to wear a tight dress to be like that, let's ".

And what about the sexy?What about those who think that unisex garments are directly proportional to losing attractiveness?"For me that has nothing to do with what we have been wearing," Xavi stops."It has more to do with what we give off and what we transmit.For me, there is nothing sexier than a woman with male clothes or a man with a skirt ".Ah, men with a skirt.And with a bag.What a complicated land and that Pelayo Díaz knows a lot."Although I am a boy, I really like to bring a bag and not only because I find it very practical, but because I consider this element an interesting piece in itself.It is an element that brings to any look a touch of personality and that says a lot about the person who carries it.The truth is that I really like how it is when a man takes him, "he says.

"But I also believe that this problem for criticizing the non-habitual is created in stores," he explains."A couple of years ago, in the Chanel store in Barcelona, I asked an saleswoman to lower me from a shelf one of the Boy models.She must have thought that it was to give someone a gift and I perfectly remember her stoopy face when she saw me try it in a thousand ways in front of the mirror.I was determined to incorporate a third boy into my bag collection when the clerk surprised me with a 'but this bag...He is a woman, huh? '.I was frozen.I did not understand how a woman who was supposed to have to sell fashion and be excited about the fact that even the boys wanted to take that firm, acted like this.Educatedly, and while I returned his bag with penalty, I reminded him that an accessory or garment is not a man or woman.That's the one who pays and who decides to put it on ".

"Although in Spain I think that the unisex world has not yet arrived, of course there are men who dare to wear shirts that seem dresses, skirts or even shoes - not heels -, of a woman (and I include myself among them).In addition, it must be made clear that it has nothing to do with transvestism, it has to do with the choice of a silhouette, the simple taste for the design of that garment or for a matter of aesthetics, "Pelayo continues."It is also true that this issue is more conflictive when we think of men, than when we think of women who dress as men.If I start thinking women who are better for a male suit than a man is inevitable to think about Tilda Swinton or our Bosé Bimba.They are women so special and with such personality that they do not need.

Jaime Mesa, one of the new designers who best manages the neutral genre, believes that "people in Spain are not prepared.Here, unfortunately, people will never dare to put things on the fear they will say or simply not fit.My designs do not conform to any movement or I am talking about any fashion.Nor do I try to unify any traditional division between the feminine and the masculine.For me it is only clothes ".Xavi Reyes, Who's On Next 2015 finalist and perfect Unisex fashion representative, coincides with Jaime Mesa in the difficulty found in Spain."Especially among the adult public or that is considered more understood in fashion.I have read that some of the exits of my last parade were a mere provocation without any commercial possibility and who takes my hands to my head when I describe some of my dresses like Unisex.In northern Europe or in Asia the same does not happen.We will have to continue seducing those who resist change, as Manuela (Carmena) says, "Xavi Reyes smiles.

Xavi Reyes's proposals are "Unisex mostly.They are garments without size or gender and that, for me, fit both sexes.Sometimes they do it more conventionally accepted and sometimes, not so much ".He also considers that attractive "is a matter of attitude and trust; if you have them, no matter what you carry".And Encarni Lovexx has them.Encarni is a model - protected all the images of this report - and multidisciplinary artist, and captures the essence of what fashion is without gender.As she says, "it is something that can not only be reflected in my way of dressing, but also in my way of thinking and being.View garments that are masculine, so to speak, and never put on what fits a woman.It may not seem very feminine on the outside, from the traditional point of view, but both my way of being or expressing me are ".And what do you think of the sexy factor?"That does not come from the garments you carry, but from your personality.It doesn't matter what you carry;If you don't feel sexy, others won't feel it, "he says.In addition to being a model and designer, Encarni works in 44Store, so he knows perfectly how clients face neutral fashion: "It is the best platform for this concept.It has a large selection of unisex brands and transforms those that have gender in Genderless ".And what would you tell everyone who doubts when they don't know if a garment is masculine or female?"That they try it.If you feel comfortable they will be able to project it and set aside if something is one of one or another ".

"Are we aware of the freedom that will breathe walking on those three floors?" Pelayo asks about talking about the commitment of Selfridges."It is a wonderful idea and the truth is that at this point in the 21st century we were already taking time to realize the course that is taking fashion.Brands like Comme des Garçons, Rick Owens or Anne Demeulemester have made a fashion flag without gender for so many years that I think we could identify in them the beginning of what is now being seen in the streets, but that is why we have not toForget about Spanish designers, "he continues."In the latest edition of MBMFW Davidelfin presented a totally unisex collection in which male models and Bimba Bosé parade, highlighting a latent idea in so many other of its previous collections.It's okay to think that only the outside is worth it, we value a little more.Through the streets of Malasaña or Chueca you can see wonderful boys and girls who mix garments in such a fresh way and without prejudice that nothing has to envy to the streets of Paris or East London, Dondé Viví six years ".

It was precisely Rick Owens, in his recent male parade for autumn/winter 2015-2016 -Yes, in which the models were seen when walking -the one that defined almost lyrical precision what is neutral fashion.The journalist asked him if with his designs he tried to reach a third genre.He, inhaling and exhaling, said: "I am very comfortable with the idea that there are two.What interests me is to see the point where both converge ".That point is, perhaps, the most interesting of fashion.Free fashion.