Monday 25 February 2013

Androgyny in the modern ages.


Androgyny: “neither clearly masculine nor clearly feminine in appearance,”


As fashion is evolving, more and more looks are being put together and people in general are more experimental with the clothes they wear. 

An androgynous look is always looked upon as the female wearing male style clothes… But how often does this happen the other way around? We’re not talking cross-dressing, but buying clothes meant for the opposite gender for fashion purposes. 

To get an idea of what the public thought about androgyny in the modern ages I carried out a survey and here is what I found.

Over ninety-six per cent of the people I asked had witnessed someone wearing clothes meant for the opposite sex and only six per cent of these people were bothered by having seen this. 
In this day and age experimenting with fashion seems to be accepted as the norm. However, it only seems to be acceptable if it is females wearing male clothes, and not the other way around. 

Just because a man may be wearing a female t-shirt or jacket for example, doesn't mean it will always be obvious that they are. So surely this means that ‘cross-dressing’ in this respect is acceptable?


An item of clothing is an item of clothing – it shouldn't matter who it was intended for, especially if amazing outfits can be created by ignoring this. 

When asking the public whether they would consider buying or wearing something from the opposite gender we received a completely mixed reaction… The majority, over 35% said they would and most of the rest of them said they maybe would, they hadn't really thought about it or that they already do. Only a small 9% said that they wouldn't consider it!


When looking at Lincoln's high street it is clear to see that although it has most of the popular high street stores, they are quite small in comparison to other cities, and there is a definite lack of male shops. However, the people in Lincoln don’t seem to be too bothered by this, with the majority of people saying that the lack of shops wouldn't make them go and shop in stores of the opposite sex.


Androgyny on the high fashion catwalks often show women in more slick, tailored outfits; made up of trouser suits, shorts, and over-sized shirts, to create an edgy and strong look. 

Although on a day to day basis, fashion androgyny could be looked at from a totally different angle – it could simply mean the mixing of male clothes with female clothes to create an outfit that is perceived as ‘fashionable’….Well, nearly 83% of the people I spoke to thought it either worked or sometimes worked, so maybe we have a new trend upon us.

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