When I was told that my assignment was to write about a passion, I knew that I wanted to write about Harry Styles. It’s safe to say that I’m a passionate fan. Why wouldn’t I use this opportunity to research and write about the cutest, brightest, and most innovative person in the world? Although Harry Styles has a plethora of amazing qualities, traits, and achievements, I chose to focus on his gender-fluid fashion style. As I started researching, I learned about the rise of gender-fluid fashion and the people behind it.
The term “gender-fluid” is used to refer to someone who chooses to have a non-binary identity. More specifically, the individual is not identifying as one specific gender, allowing room for change over time and eschewing typical gender norms. Similarly, gender-fluid fashion takes away preconceived associations of gender and sex within clothing and style. This means that there are no distinct “male” and “female” categories, for example a man can wear a skirt and a woman can wear a tuxedo. This goes off of the idea that clothes should have no boundaries as they are a form of personal expression.
Styles recently made history as the first-ever solo male cover star of Vogue. During his interview, he revealed, “As a kid, I definitely liked fancy dresses.” Speaking about his appearance in a school play, he stated, “I was really young and I wore tights for that. I remember it was crazy to me that I was wearing a pair of tights. And that was maybe where it all kicked off!” For his shoot with Vogue, Styles dressed up in a gorgeous, puffy, lace Gucci gown with a Gucci blazer on top, showcasing the intersectionality of his masculine and feminine sides. Additionally, he appeared in wide-legged pants, kilts, skirts, overcoats and trench coats, and blazers. He spent hours working alongside stylists Harry Lambert and Alessandro Michele to decide how he wanted to present the wide range of his style. His confidence and comfort in a dress is a demonstration to all cisgender men that there is no need to conform to typical gender norms when it comes to fashion.
Styles believes, “I think if you get something that you feel amazing in, it’s like a superhero outfit. Clothes are there to have fun with and experiment with and play with. What’s really exciting is that all of these lines are just kind of crumbling away. It’s like anything—anytime you’re putting barriers up in your own life, you’re just limiting yourself. There’s so much joy to be had in playing with clothes. I’ve never really thought too much about what it means—it just becomes this extended part of creating something.” As always, Styles’ advice offers a meaningful message for us all; we should all aim to be like him and have fun with our clothes. At the end of the day, the people who judge the message Styles sends are closed-minded to the ever-evolving concept of fashion. (People like Candace Owens, but that’s a topic for another day.)
Although Harry Styles brought a new wave of attention to gender-fluid fashion, it is important to acknowledge all of his predecessors. Gender-fluid fashion is not a new concept. Members of the queer community, ranging from drag queens to transgender people to non-binary individuals, have been the blueprint for musicians such as Prince, Styles, Young Thug, and more. The courageous queer community has worked hard to express themselves and their identities through fashion. They brought in new terms and ideas, such as androgyny (partly male and partly female in appearance) and more. Currently, some prominent LGBTQIA+ designers include Eden Loweth, Saul Nash, Hana Holquist, Ella Boucht, and more.
Designer Rick Owens once said, “I don’t understand why this generation thinks that they invented gender fluidity. They did it harder, stronger, and louder in the ‘70s.” Much of the current genderless fashion trends, such as men wearing flared pants and eyeliner, can be traced back to the ‘70s. More specifically, these trends can be traced back to Prince, a widely-known American musician from the time.
Prince boldly expressed himself with blatant disregard for gender norms. When he opened for The Rolling Stones in Los Angeles in 1981, he wore black bikini briefs and thigh-high stockings on stage. Prince’s decision was ahead of its time. During his performance, he was hounded by racist and homophobic slander. The audience started throwing anything they could find towards the stage. Despite receiving harsh criticism, Prince never stopped expressing himself in the way that he wanted. He unapologetically wore eyeliner, lace gloves, clothes with distinctive feminine touches, and inadvertently fueled all his haters. For all these reasons, perhaps he should be given the proper acknowledgment for paving the way for our modern, musical, gender-fluid fashion warriors.
Current gender-fluid warriors in the music industry include Young Thug and Jaden Smith. In the world of hip-hop, Young Thug has been working towards dismantling the hypermasculinity that defines the culture and style. His album cover for No, My Name Is JEFFERY features him in a gorgeous skirt-like garment. The designer, Alessando Trincone, revealed that the look was inspired by Japanese kimonos and trousers. Over the years, he has had many gender-fluid fashion moments, highlighting him as one of the most well-known celebrities to defy gender norms. Other celebrities, such as Jaden Smith, Frank Ocean, and Lil Uzi have also made many appearances in traditionally feminine clothing. These celebrities truly helped normalize gender-fluid fashion. They wear nail polish, makeup, skirts and blouses and they wear them with confidence.
The recent spotlight on gender-fluid fashion has caused teenagers to become more open-minded with their fashion choices. On TikTok, it is common to see boys wearing nail polish and makeup. It is also common to see people who identify as female in clothes that were traditionally designed for men, such as suits and tuxedos. The boundaries that set men and women apart are becoming blurred and more people are switching over to gender-fluid fashion. Overall, celebrities are helping people become less judgmental as evidently more teenagers are embracing gender-fluid clothes on social media.
As I worked on this article, I couldn’t help but notice that there is limited gender-fluid fashion here at Fieldston. In fact, you don’t see a lot of different styles at Fieldston. A traditional Fieldston outfit consists of white shoes (typically Air Force Ones.) Some students spice things up and wear high top Air Force Ones or with a black nike stripe instead of the plain white stripe. The pant options are limited to: Lululemon leggings, Nike grey sweatpants, and the occasional jeans in case the student wants to look put together. Lastly, Fieldston students will wear their Canada Goose jackets to garnish their outfits, truly highlighting the Fieldston look.
Overall, within Fieldston, most students tend to dress the same and follow gender conformity. In order to further understand the reasoning behind this, I spoke to a former Fieldston student. This student currently goes to a public school in the city. I thought it would be interesting to get the perspective of someone who experienced two vastly different types of schools.
While describing her experience with fashion at Fieldston, the former student states she felt self-conscious and judged at Fieldston when she wore clothes that did not conform with others. She articulates, “Overall, I thought that the Fieldston environment was extremely judgmental. I think the elite background plays a role in making the kids very judgmental. There was this very specific standard of beauty and fashion, which was also a very expensive standard. If you didn’t wear something considered acceptable by the majority of the student body, you would notice stares and comments.”
Current senior Kia Rogers shares similar sentiments. In her belief, Fieldston students feel validated through commonality. “By dressing like everyone else, there is a sense of fitting in and doing/wearing the right things.” Like the rest of the world, Fieldston students tend to choose their style from social media trends. From there, it becomes an endless cycle of students copying each other and what they see on Instagram. After a point, the mimicry of style becomes common and “basic.” Since the Fieldston crowd strictly adheres to trends, there are norms of what is acceptable. Due to this, it can be difficult for students to dress the way they want. Kia states, “In order to have your own style, you need to have confidence, especially if you are stepping beyond the Fieldston norm.”
In a school that preaches individuality and independence, we don’t seem to have a lot of that in our styles. As Fieldston students, we must work harder to create an environment where everyone can feel confident and comfortable with their style. The first step towards creating this environment is opening up new conversations about identity expression and exploration. We need to become mindful and aware of the various ways people feel comfortable expressing themselves. We need to learn how to dismantle harmful stereotypes of body images, gender norms, and more. By doing so, we can allow ourselves to access the endless possibilities of self-expression. Celebrities such as Harry Styles have accepted themselves for who they are and by doing so, they have created a beautiful form of art and self-expression in the fashion industry. We should also learn and accept ourselves for who we are, and when we’re able to do that, we can truly have fun with clothing, just like Harry Styles!
