Gen Z and Gender Fluidity?

Gender fluidity within fashion is not something new created by Gen Z. One of the first people to embrace femininity as a member of the opposing sex was David Bowie with his alter ego ‘Ziggy Stardust’, (Aston, 2016). “Now we have LGBT, back then we had Bowie”, (Aston, 2016).

In recent years, pop icons follow suit such as Billie Eilish with her baggy clothing, Harry Styles wearing a skirt or even Jaden Smith wearing a crop top (Herh, 2021). Harry Styles even received backlash for his apparent androgyny as people thought it was for publicity and he replied “I’m not just sprinkling in sexual ambiguity to be interesting” (Lamont, 2019).

In essence, gender-fluid fashion isn’t limited by the traditional “menswear” and “womenswear” binary, which aligns with the idea of non-binary people, who don’t align to a single gender. You don’t have to be non-binary to enjoy gender fluid fashion, and non-binary people aren’t don’t dress non-binary (National Centre For Transgender Equality, 2018).

Gen Z is in favour of flexible gender roles with 62%, versus 55% among older generations. A large majority of Gen Z believe online profiles should include additional gender options with 59%, compared to 40% of Gen Xers and 37% of Boomers (Herh, 2021).

A 2019 study showed 56 percent of Gen Z consumers shopped “outside their assigned gendered area,” (Herh, 2021).

This reiterates Gen Z’s progressive nature (Casey, 2021), and the importance of changing gender roles addresses the brief by tapping into youth culture trends such as gender fluid fashion, and also displays importance for Depop’s pillar of community by “empowering diversity within the fashion community”.