Androgyny for 2015

The theme of menswear in womenswear was quite the trend this September. Chanel--along with Public School, Marc Jacobs, Jil Sander, and others--featured androgynous looks down the SS15 runway. The most notable “comme des garcons” look in the Chanel Spring/Summer 2015 collection was the masculine tweed suit as it was both quintessentially Chanel and 21st century at the same time.  

 In the Roaring Twenties, Coco Chanel brought the tweed suit to women as a means to liberate women’s bodies from the sartorial shackles of the time. By freeing women from the cage-like corset, she strove to encourage women to be more like men in dress and lifestyle. The masculine silhouette of the tweed suits in the SS15 collection is a clear allusion to this old school Chanel idea from the 20s, but not without its own contemporary spin. Whereas Coco Chanel’s suit jacket met at the waistline, Lagerfeld pulled the bottom of the suit jacket down several inches below the waist and widened the width of the pant leg. Such a move satisfies current style affinities since loose-fitting apparel has been quite the rage as of late. 

 These days, it's no secret that all the cool girls are wearing their boyfriends’ clothes. One of the culprits of this fad is comfort. Since Chanel sent sneakers down the catwalk during the Spring 2014 Couture show, today's fashion world has been obsessed with comfort. The modern woman is a busy woman with places to go, so comfort has been prioritized and perceived as a catalyst to efficiency. This is why trainers became the footwear of choice because they don't kill feet, like heels do, and they ensure fast mobilization. Similarly, wider clothes are easier to move around in; hence why androgynous women's apparel wins for 2015. 

Another explanation for the enthusiasm toward menswear in womenswear is pop culture. Pop culture continues to erase the lines between men and women in society. Celebrities, like Beyonce and Lena Dunham, unabashedly present themselves as sexual beings-- a role which society has traditionally reserved for men (because it’s only acceptable for guys to go on sexual rampages duh). And Hermione Granger (I mean, Emma Watson) recently spoke about gender equality at the UN. Evidently, closing the disparity between male and female roles in society has been the talk of the town so it makes sense that fashion would reflect such a socially and politically affecting topic on the runway.

By eliminating wardrobe barriers between men and women, fashion takes a step toward placing males and females on an equal platform. It reinforces the classic Chanel idea of "dress like a man, live like a man". This important message behind the androgynous trend is exactly why it won’t (and shouldn't) go away any time soon.