Breaking Through the Binary

EXPLORING GENDERLESS FASHION

Written by Jane Houseal, Fashion Editorial Assistant Photographed by Molly Jacobs, Staff Photographer Modeled by Forrest Orion

The fashion industry has always been involved with gender identity, whether positively or negatively. Clothing is often used to enforce traditional ideas surrounding gender and assign people one way of being.1 Despite this, individuals can also affirm and express gender identities that stray from the binary through their style.

Designers and retailers alike have recognized the opportunities for fashion to expand. We’ve already seen gender-neutral clothing, often comprised of shapeless garments in neutral colors, meant to be worn by males or females. However, this gender-neutral clothing is typically created to fit within the binary—it’s not made for people who don’t define themselves as either gender.2

There has been extensive praise for men in dresses and women in suits,

¹ Júlia Vilaça, “Genderless Fashion Has Been Rewriting the Binary Concept of Clothing,” Fashinnovation, June 7, 2021. ² “Non Binary Outfits - Understanding Non-Binary Fashion,” Taimi, Feb. 11, 2022.

which are powerful statements to an extent, but often fail to capture the potential of clothing to be truly genderless. When an individual wears something that does not fit their gender, they can help redefine clothing stereotypes. It can be empowering for people with structured gender identities to engage in less gendered dress, but fashion should be a tool to express a more fluid gender identity as well. The mere act of a cisgender person wearing untraditional clothing doesn’t properly showcase the various forms gender can take, beyond those who identify within the binary.

Many figures within the fashion industry are expanding the relationship between style and gender. Harris Reed is one influential designer who is known for playing with gender fluidity. Their recent collection, “Sixty Years A Queen,” focuses on dynamic looks that “challenge the confines of gender and identity within each piece.”3 The collection features exaggerated silhouettes, a sculptural piece that is half a female chest and half a male chest and various looks that play with volume and proportion to the extreme.

More and more boundary-breaking young designers are entering the fashion scene as well. Ella Bouchet, a Finnish fashion designer and Central St. Martins graduate, designs garments for those left out of a fashion industry that typically caters towards a cisgender, heteronormative consumer. Bouchet says they plan to “provoke change through gender, queerness, sexuality, style and beauty.” Their work consists of sharply tailored pieces and provoking leather silhouettes.

Another designer, Arturo Obegero, is surpassing the bounds of fashion in a slightly different way. Obegero uses their position as a designer to help deconstruct the ideas around gender and fashion. They focus on cutting and draping to create a variety of genderless tailored pieces.4

3 Naomi Pike, “Sixty Years A Queen,” Harris Tweed, 2022. ⁴ Alex Kessler & Eni Subair, “Meet 5 Young Designers Working Outside the Gender Binary,” Both well-established and fresh fashion figures are working to compensate for areas where the industry still lacks. Obegero’s expertise in tailoring is so valuable, as tailoring is one realm in particular that has a lot of room for improvement. Fashion has always been a gendered concept. Even as encouraging genderless trends and runways shows begin to emerge, it is vital that we push for reform that starts at the root.

The strongest fashion, whether on an artistic runway show or your favorite vintage garment, starts with solid construction. Unfortunately, most sewing patterns and tailoring norms are gendered, which make it difficult to create genderless clothing.5 Even if people are dressing outside the binary, clothing is still being designed within it.

UW-Madison student, stylist and model Forrest Orion was the one who first brought these specific shortcomings of fashion to my attention. In an interview with Orion, they explained the importance of fashion in their life as a genderqueer person.

“Fashion has become an outlet to affirm my identity. It has definitely changed the way I look at clothing. I don’t look at clothes in a gendered lens, but rather how can I create something that’s interesting to look at while maintaining an air of mystery and androgyny.”

Orion’s use of fashion to affirm their gender identity goes to show the potential of fashion to positively impact people’s self-exploration rather than harm it. However, problems in the fashion industry are present everywhere. Orion described their struggles with tailoring and clothing fit, specifically through the example of pants.

“I like to bring focus away from my hips, but many women’s cut pants tend to hug the hips to create more of an hourglass figure. Men’s pants, on the

Vogue, March 23, 2021. ⁵ Emilia Bergoglio, “Degendering Fashion: Does Clothing Have to be Gendered?” Seamwork, accessed Feb. 2022. other hand, are great for how boxy and straight cut they are but tend to be lower rise which still tends to accentuate the hips”.

Morgan Montoya, a friend of Orion’s, is a tailor working to create garments that alleviate problems such as pants not fitting the ideal way. Montoya is somewhat new to tailoring, but their dedication and talent are clear. When I sat down with Montonya to chat about their experience, they revealed the amount of research they had done to learn how to pattern make and adjust patterns for a better fit.

When I asked Montoya what inspired them to start their sewist journey, I was surprised by how universal their answer was. “Why do I feel frumpy all the time?” was the question Monontya wanted to answer. People deserve clothes that fit and make them feel good, and what clothes accomplish that is different for everyone.

The painful, yet the well-known feeling of hating how your clothes fit is often a more intense challenge for gender non-conforming individuals. As Montoya explained, LGBTQ+ individuals may spend more time thinking about their appearance because they want to feel more like themselves in a society that tells them they have to behave and appear one specific way.

The interconnectedness between fashion and gender means something different to everyone. Genderless clothing does not solely exist for cisgender individuals to experiment with atypical style choices. True genderless fashion should allow for any person to interpret clothing how they prefer and exist with no preexisting intentions regarding gender expression. Between altering how garments are tailored, celebrating innovative designers and prioritizing nonbinary experiences, there is a revolutionary future ahead when it comes to gender and fashion. ■