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Hello all.

I often find myself appreciating the "look" of femininity on women (see: cute but not cute for you), and enjoy seeing it on men as well, but it leads me to wonder: Why are things like the color pink, blouses, nail polish and earrings all inherently "feminine"? They're mere decorations for the human body after all and i enjoy the idea of taking away the "girliness" of these things and making them open to all genders.

It's not wrong to want to wear these things as a male (i will be referring to this side of the argument because of two reasons 1: i see mens fashion widely accepted in womens fashions already so it is not as much of an issue 2: it is my current stance) or even to like the idea of such things. Wearing these "girl" items will not make you a girl, gay, trans, crossdressing, etc.. or anything other than who you already are, just open to experimenting with new clothings. So many negative labels are placed upon these, and to go against that, i move towards desexualize the clothing/accessories.

Not about "making guys look like girls", infact its quite the opposite, "making girl's looks, guy's (too)". Who says girls have to look like X, who says guys cant wear Y?



tips
* dudes! shop in the women's section, especially in a thrift store! You dont have to shop only in the womens section and you can usually find some pretty cool stuff with different fits than you may expect.
* girls! trade clothes with your guy friends for fun! You could also have a little salon day together at home and paint nails or try on jewelry
* dudes! be open to experimentation and like with any other aesthetic, dont rush completely into it if you do not feel comfortable with it.

my apologies if this is at all offensive or if i came across something in a rude way, it is not my intention

would love some others' input!

yeah, i'd definitely would like to see more qt feminine bois. also, makeup. it looks really good on some males.

I'm down with it. At the end of the day, if you love pink, just wear it. If ya wanna paint your nails, go for it. There's certainly a stigma in men's fashion regarding breaking down the gender barrier and allowing femininity in. After being told our whole lives to be ruff-n-tuff doods it certainly might be hard to allow yourself to wear dresses or makeup. The thing is, there's nothing inherently gendered about clothes, it's all been learned through years of societal indoctrination. No politics or anything, it is what it is. It can be tough to express an interest in fashion or a predilection for pink when some of your peers may shun you but that's what real friends are for. Life's to short to not be yourself ya feel? I always hear people asking other people who wear avant-garde stuff or goth-ninja or whatever, "when do you wear that?", "no way you wear that when you're just getting groceries", "I wish I could dress like that but I live in the midwest/south/west/etc." A lot of people really do wear the stuff they like wherever they go. At the end of the day, it's not a costume, it's just clothes you like

My personal view on things is: if you like the way stuff looks, wear it. If you like the way something sounds, listen to it. If something is fun, do it. Just today my friend was showing me some new wallets his store got, and I really liked the 'women's' wallets more (turns out they were all unisex, he only accidentally called them women's wallets) than the men's selection. If I had money for a new wallet I'da grabbed one for sure. Anyways, point is, a lot of guys have trouble letting go of what they've been taught by men's magazines and style guys with ideas for what constitutes appropriate dudewear. There was a lot of pushback from r/mfa and r/streetwear when my mini-photo essay and list got posted there, because those communities are built around established concepts of dress and are less open to boundary-pushing fashion. Not to condemn them, by any means, just acknowledging that some people don't want to work around the norms of fashion and dress, and that's okay too. For those of ya willing to expand your boundaries, I appreciate ya.

rambling semantics



I love brands that make clothes that can be shared between men and women. Yantor does this really well.



ideas

A lot of it is seemingly too contrived. The often used phrases of 'pushing boundaries' and 'breaking gender norms' usually seen in the blurb of a JW Anderson, vachement, or other this years favourite designers favourite designer collection has almost become a cliche now.

I do like androgyny though, but when it is the complete grey area between the genders, not just sticking men in skirts or women in trousers. Those examples of trasparenti where it is the same outfit, with neither specific side in mind are what I prefer to see.

This why I find Stephen Schneider interesting. It's cool that he designs all his fabrics in house, and even cooler that he uses the same fabrics for both his mens and womens lines.

I'm always on the for more brands that make gender neutral clothing. Kapital does this, and it's great that I can look at their clothes and have no idea whether it's intended for men or women and not care because either way it's still awesome clothing.

earrings :-)

I find that, as a man thrifting in the women's section, there are plenty of opportunities when it comes to denim/leather jackets and some sweaters, but shirts and pants and most things with buttons just don't sit right.


I enjoy adding some "middle ground" to my aesthetic, but I don't think of it as "feminine" or anything. It started with painting my nails, and I would love to get a bit more into makeup/contouring.