Palomo Spain already saw it coming and so it is that genderless, gender-free or non-binary fashion, a trend that blurs gender to break with heteronormative stereotypes, has come to stay. In 2002, Jeffrey Eugenides stated in his Pulitzer-winning novel "Middlesex" that sex is biological and gender is cultural. It is said that it is cultural because it is a social construct, and although until recently only the binary gender was talked about (female or male, girl or boy), today we know that, far from traditional thinking, it is a fluid and changing concept, open to interpretation. Each of us expresses gender in a different way and that makes it unique for each of us.
In an era in which freedom and self-expression are urged, fashion has an important role in breaking down social constructs that are far from equality and feminism. This is why self-discovery is so groundbreaking and valuable, as the dress code for men and women has been well defined and unchallenged for too many generations. In addition, another important aspect is the extensive textile market destined to dress women compared to men. Women, perhaps because fashion and femininity have gone hand in hand, show a more hip way of thinking than men in their clothing choices and, although there are exceptions, the trend is that more women invest and are open to men's clothing and not the other way around.
We are currently at the peak of fashion and we should not pay too much attention to whether what we buy comes from the men's or women's section. It is about removing the labels that prevent how we would really like to dress, and leaving behind the binary gender with the push and power of fashion. After all, the term genderless may fade away when it is fully normalized.
Finally, I send a message to men who want to defend their own fight: wearing garments by Alejandro Gómez Palomo, one of the designers and dressmakers who have best known how to represent the genderless meaning with romantic patterns and sheer fabrics, does not make men less masculine. Quite the opposite. It allows us to embrace wind blows with a feminine smell that we all carry within us.
Have a good weekend!
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