Blurred Lines: The Rise of Androgynous Styling

The concept of Androgyny is not new – the cultural phenomenon, a curious balance of feminine ‘expressive’ traits with masculine ‘instrumental’ traits, has had its first appearances in Plato’s Symposium (it was contained in a myth widely broadcasted at that time). Later in history, this notion of androgyny took on a distinct aesthetic – an aesthetic vision distilled in the icons of 1920. A strange new breed of young women with bobbed hair, heavy makeup and eclectic tastes was distilled in film as the quintessential ‘Flapper Girl’ – an aesthetic visualisation of ambiguous gender which combined in the single image composed of contrasting qualities of femininity and masculinity. The female icons of the era – Louise Brooks, Clara Bow, Colleen Moore, Joan Crawford – exuded a fascinating boldness of sexuality by reinventing feminine silhouettes and re-presenting them in more boyish, youthful forms.

The androgynous elements constituting the ‘flapper girl’ aesthetic created a look that physically freed the body from conventionally ‘feminine’ silhouettes; this sense of dress became a code that women who developed a conscious rejection of conventional adopted. The relaxed traversing between both ‘hard’ masculine elements of dress and the ‘soft’ feminine elements resulted in a rejection of gender specificity and its specific codes of dress and conduct in society. This style, notably pioneered by none other than Coco Chanel herself, gave women an aesthetic built on the principles of freeing the female body from the corseted constraints of the prevailing conventions of dress, creating a new cut and silhouette for women as a means for enabling ease and mobility.

Adding to that very same aesthetic and purpose is Algerian-born French couture designer Yves Saint Laurent. By reinventing the three piece tuxedo and fitting it to the women's slender silhouette, he similarly drew inspiration to the classic silhouette and its prevailing cultural significance as the masculine 'power' suit.Today, the deliberate androgyny of the Flapper girl filters down to recognisable elements; we are heir to the aesthetic elements such as relaxed layering, oversized clothing cut in clean lines and boxier proportions, white, minimal lines, longer hemlines, crisp, pressed shirts, soft loafers and studded boots. The visual icons of an era that is still with us today in its various forms increasingly (and hopefully) continues to encourage a more open-minded acceptance of difference and unconventional approaches towards personal expression and sense of identity.