The Fashion Industry
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Gender Stereotypes
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What is Gender?
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Gender Fluidity
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Gender Dictionary
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Social Media And Celebrities 20-21
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Fashion is a huge part of many male and female lives but exploring into someone with gender identity issues they have not had much attention in the retail fashion industry. When a boy is dressing like a girl or the other way round in society they are named ridiculously horrible names making them feel embarrassed and excluded from society. Today, times have changed and society is now altering the divided camps of womenswear and menswear and gender-fluid fashion is taking over the game. Right now is the time that clothing and stereotypes should become a sheer concept and not part of everyday society. In this generation there has become a bigger importance with gender identification as its becoming more known. Zero zine is about exploring the insides of gender fluidity and other identities, the fashion industry market and how social media and celebrities are in relation to these.
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The Fashion industry is a multibillion dollar global enterprise dedicated to the business of making and selling clothes. What defines the fashion industry is the mainly based roles of the individuals who comprise it – the designers, stores, factories, workers, seamstresses, tailors, salesperson, models, pattern makers and textile manufacturers. It is basically the business of making clothes but the distinction between fashion and apparel is that apparel is a humans basic need, fashion incorporates a person’s individuality and cultural taste. The fashion industry is a product of the present day, early in the 19th century clothing was handmade for individuals, either made at home or order from a dressmaker but with the rise of new technologies such as sewing machines and the rise of global capitalism and the enhancement to factory productions in the 20th century clothing had increasingly come to be mass produced in different sizes and sold at fixed prices. Sold at retail outlets such as department stores as stores had multiplied. In the 50’s and 60’s there became a growing number of designers creating
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their own names and labels which began the creation of designer brand names and fashion designers became celebrities in their own right because of their charming personalities and ambitions started to be recognised by more people. To name a few, Oscar de la Renta, Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein. It was the couturiers and designers of the past century that laid the basics of the modern industry we know today. The freedoms of women from corseted confinement, the creation of ready to wear clothing, logos, window displays, lifestyle brands, fashion shows and marketing are all a result of the originality, daring and creative genius of the individuals who were in their lifetime’s stylistic and societal futurists.
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No matter how much it protest otherwise, fashion is a two gendered thing, there is infrequently an option these days to buy clothes that are categorised as anything other than men’s or women’s. In fact although many garments are unisex, retailers still make us enter specific shops, floors and sections of their website in order to purchase according to what gender we are. he fact we are trained from such a young age to regard clothes strictly for men and other clothes strictly for women is the most dominant force maintaining the fashion divide and the fact that if someone refuses to follow these codes they are seen as making a huge statement. This tells us about how much the value we attach to masculinity and femininity, in life women can dress practical in non-feminine clothes and people won’t think anything of it. If a man was wearing clothes deemed of women like a frock it’s seen as comedy and ridicule, as if there could be nothing more bizarre than a man in a dress. The whole gender specific clothing starts as early as preschool because children are developing gender role identity in preschool, by learning and playing dress up that are identified to men and women, such as work uniforms, chefs, firefighters, police uniforms and scrubs. These jobs many years ago were seen as specific gender jobs and are now both male and female job roles and the goal is to boost non-stereotyping in children.
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Gender refers to the socially constructed characteristics between men and women – such as norms, relationships and roles, and including understandings of both masculinity and femininity. The difference between gender and sex is that the last refers only to biological differences. Societies change and so gender varies via different societies. Whilst most people are born male or female, their also taught suitable norms and behaviour such as how to interact with others of the opposite and same sex inside households, work places and communities. When an individual or groups do not agree or ‘fit’ these traditional norms they usually feel isolation socially and discriminated. Someone feeling socially isolated affects their health and so it is important that people take note that people have different identities and do not necessarily fit into the binary female or male sex category. 11
Gender no generation progressio women and they shoul difference Seems as so often g My approac ther mascu variety of attitudes, liefs and usually dr and nurtur ods ascri biological roles and and femin
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orms refers to beliefs from n to generation through the on of socialization about men, boys and girls and how ld act, treat other sexes and e in power and opportunities. culture and society changes gender norms change overtime. ch is that gender being eiuline or feminine involves a f areas such as personality, , behaviours, identities, beself-presentation. These are riven by a mixture of nature re influence. These are methibed to people of a certain l sex when it comes to gender d so research for masculine nine ideology has improved.
For example ways to act when female or male you should act tough and stay in control, women should be primary carers to children, men should wear pants and have short hair etc. Prescriptions for ways not to act, don’t cry, don’t be scared, it’s not okay for the women to earn the money, and don’t wear a dress if you’re male.
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Gender fluidity is when gender expressions shift between masculine and feminine which can be displayed in how people dress, express and describe themselves. It is a gender identity best described as a dynamic mix of male and female. A person who is gender fluid may always feel a mix of the two genders but may feel more male some days and more female other days. Gender fluid people may feel the need to change their gender expression to match whatever their current gender has become. This means they feel the need to express their selves in clothing, image, behaviour, movement and conversation in a way that connects with the gender they are feeling that day. It can also mean temporarily changing their body shapes by using binding, packing and breast prostheses or tucking. Although changing their gender expression isn’t possible as for some people the changes can happen more than once a day, or if they don’t feel safe in an environment if they were present a certain way. Gender and social dysphoria can also be part of a gender fluid person, feeling painfully uncomfortable when it comes to a social environment or roles, wanting to feeling accepted and included for example names and pronouns used correctly shows gender acceptance. Some gender fluid people ask to be called a different name depending on what gender they feel at a certain time. For people who only switch between two genders, means switching between two names. These may be feminine and masculine versions of the same name or names that don’t sound alike at all, or a gender neutral name that works for them all the time. Whilst gender dysphoria is a disorder where a person experiences anxiety or distress because there is a mismatch between their biological sex and their gender identity, leading to distressing and uncomfortable feelings about their sex and gender. Some gender fluid people feel like the same person all the time where as others see themselves having multiple personalities, having different likes and dislikes or acting like two different personas depending on the gender.
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Instagram P
Jake as Bella his female persona
‘’Gender fluid is not really feel trum or the other, for most of th any gender, I was born a boy and like having the best of both sexe make up and enjoy dressing myself different I look and how great I just throw on my jeans and a top Jake my friends say I have a diff their own likes and dislikes, I t differently, speak differently an depending on my gender identifica
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Pastel_Prince
Jake was born a male
ling like you’re at one end of the speche part I definitely don’t identify as I don’t really feel like a woman, It’s es, it’s weird because some days I love f up, trying on wigs and seeing how feel but then some days I wake up and and just be Jake. Whether I am Bella or ferent persona for each gender they have tend to hold myself differently, walk nd even interact with people differently ation.’’
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on-Binary ransgender Also known simply as Trans, this refers to people who are assigned the wrong gender at birth. Cisgender people identify as the gender they are assigned at birth based on their sex. So a women with a vagina identifying as a woman is cisgender. A person with a vagina but identifying as a man is considered as Trans and sometimes, not always a Trans person will go through medical procedures to alter their body to reflect their true identity.
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refers to any gender that is not exclusively male or female. They tend to be very androgynous meaning they are both masculine and feminine and have multiple gender identities.
ndrogyny is the combination of masculine and feminine characteristics. Gender ambiguity may be found in fashion, gender identity, sexual identity, or sexual lifestyle.
rag Exaggerated, theatrical or performative gender. Though most commonly used to refer to cross-dressing performers. Anyone of any gender can do any form of drag and doing drag does not essentially have anything to do with someone’s sex assigned at birth, gender identity or sexual orientation.
utch A person who identifies themselves as masculine, whether it be physically, mentally or emotionally. ‘Butch’ is sometimes used as a term for lesbians.
sexual ueer Is a term that is growing in usage demonstrating a blurred line surrounding society’s rigid views of bother gender identity and sexual orientation. Genderqueer people embrace a fluidity of gender expression that is limitless, meaning they may not identity as male or female, but as both or neither. Usually a term that respects sexual orientation. It does not limit a person to identifying as heterosexual or homosexual.
Referring to little or no sexual attraction to others and lack of interest in having a sexual relationship or behaviour, Asexual people have no desire to have sex and have low level experience.
inary The conception to people is that there are only two genders, male and female. Gender binary excludes all other genders and identifications and they believe that everyone is either male or female. 19
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SO C I L ED I
SOCIAL MEDIA
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Social media platforms has become one of the biggest ways for people to express their identities, it has given people the opportunity to be more open and honest than ever and the likes of Twitter, Instagram and snapchat have given others the power to show everyone how they want to be portrayed. Social media is giving people the chance to find out what a person is like before actually meeting and talking to them. It is a massive open opportunity allowing us to express our own individualities. For some people social media is an escape from realism and the only platform they have to be themselves, they feel they don’t need to prove or explain their selves to people on a daily basis.
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For example a transgender may not feel able or confident enough to walk down the street in a dress but feels able to post a picture on Instagram in the same dress, it allows people regardless their race, gender and orientation express their own unique selves. Facebook added new gender options for peoples profiles in the U.S with 50 custom gender options such as transgender, cisgender, gender fluid and neither showing that they care about others and wants them to feel comfortable being their true authentic self. With more people expressing their gender identities online gives a chance for people to meet online, and makes others with gender identities feel less alone, being alone in what you’re going through is isolating and can sometimes drive people into a dark place. While gender neutral or gender fluid can be embraced anywhere on the gender spectrum, diverse gender identities are also trending with the celebrities and they are now speaking out in order to raise awareness. With peo-
ple like Miley Cyrus recently admitting that she doesn’t relate to being a boy or girl and her showing support for gender fluid people by posting an image on Instagram of gender fluid lipstick using the hashtag #genderfluid. Another celeb made headlines when spotted wearing tunics and dresses is Jaden Smith who says he wears skirts in the hope that it will one day mean children can wear anything they want without being bullied, and made more headlines when he featured in a womenswear campaign for the fashion powerhouse Louis Vuitton wearing a skirt. As well as them there is then Orange is the new black actress Ruby rose who says she is not a guy, she doesn’t feel like a woman, but was obviously born one. Ruby describes that she is somewhere in between but says she has more characteristics of a boy than a girl. Gender fluidity is something a lot of people will be able to associate with and to see celebrities speaking out about their experience will help a lot of people struggling with their gender identity. 21