“Wearing “men’s clothing” does not make you more of a man or less of a woman.
Be boldly you.”
More at idreamofdapper.com
Men In Skirts, Women In Suits: Fashion Goes Genderqueer
“”Women perceive pants as superior in some respect because symbolically pants signify power in patriarchy,” said Steele. “So there were various dress reform movements from the 19th century on in western Europe and America to allow women to wear trousers. You see that in the ’20s and ’30s, and in the ’70s is a very big movement forward toward women wearing trousers even for formal or work occasions rather than private, beach or sporting events.”
For Rae Tutera, The Handsome Butch blogger and LGBTQ liaison for Bindle & Keep, having a first custom made suit after years of ill-fitting clothes, Tutera told PBS, was revelatory. “Having something custom made for my body, reitroduced me to my body,” Tutera said. “I think people see me in a way that aligns with how I see myself.””
Read more at International Business Times
“Wearing dresses and hyper feminine clothing would honestly make me deeply uncomfortable — sometimes even nauseated. I never felt like me in these outfits, which led me to feel strange, dissociated, and insecure around family and friends. But, because I was a girl and this was how I was supposed to be dressing, I gave it my best shot. […] It wasn’t until I went away to college that I began to put the pieces together. Thanks to many of my friends, and the greater understanding of gender that I gathered from them, my own identity began to make sense to me. I learned that there are other ways besides wearing dresses via which to express myself and my versions of femininity and masculinity. I began cutting my hair, which had been ridiculously long for most of my life. I watched it slowly dwindle away from waist-length, to chest-length, to shoulder-length, and now to my shorter and shaved-on-the-sides look. The more hair I cut, the more I felt the burden of a femininity that I didn’t identify with wash away. […]
My gender feelings and presentation vary from day to day. Despite my beauty obsession, there are many days when I would rather wear a large button down and jeans, and avoid makeup altogether. And I’m comfortable with that! Lately, and especially in the summer, I tend to dress more femininely than usual. Just like I have the right to masculinity without identifying as a man, I have the right to femininity, too. […] Wearing a short dress or getting all made up doesn’t make me any less fluid, any less demigirl, or any less me. Fashion gives me the freedom to be who I am on a day to day basis, and the confidence I gather from this practice in turn gives me the bravery to be myself every single day.”
More at Bustle
Handsome in Pink is a clothing line for children (and adults) which rejects colour and gender stereotypes:
“We are an eco-friendly, mom-owned children’s clothing store that got fed up by the lack of choice in clothing options for our daughters and sons. In 2007, we decided to do something about it and have been turning gender stereotypes upside down ever since. We believe pink can be masculine, blue can be feminine, and everyone should feel empowered by what they wear.”
More at handsomeinpink.com
Loiza Lamers, a 20-year-old transgender model, recently won Holland’s Next Top Model (a spin-off of the America’s Next Top Model), a first for the franchise.
More at Jezebel
“After one year and two months of preparation, ThreadBare, a gender-neutral clothing consignment store, opened on the main floor of the [University of Missouri} Student Center on Aug. 26.
ThreadBare is a part of the Missouri Student Unions Entrepreneurial Program. This program allows students to compete for a rent-free space in the Student Center to conduct their business in for one year.
ThreadBare’s four founders, Zach Bine, Allison Fitts, Kyle Gunby and Gabriel Riekhof, hope their new business will not only be profitable but also change society views gender identity.
“Realistically, our physical bodies aren’t always our mental bodies,” Chief Marketing Officer Gunby said. “We have our own identities and we assign those things to ourselves based on how we feel since birth. Clothing was one of those things that we can do in a business model that is plausible while at the same time still attacking gender stereotypes and stigmas.””
Read more at themaneater.com
Art by Natterbugg on deviantart.com
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