By Rachel Molina |Staff Writer|
Celebrities and major fashion industries have begun to develop gender-neutral clothing due to a shift of cultural values.
Fashion allows everyone to express themselves and convey their identity through what they wear and Jaden Smith has done just that.
Sixteen-year-old Smith, son of actor Will Smith, donned some interesting fashion choices that has sparked the media when he attended weekend two of Coachella.
In the duration of his time there, his clothing choices consisted of a big floppy hat, two dress-like tunics, and a red floral crown.
Smith’s style choice has received a lot of attention as well as praise.
This is not the first time that Smith has stepped out in “feminine attire,” and is making a strong statement while doing so.
A few days prior to Coachella, he tweeted a photo of himself wearing a long black sweater dress with a white mesh tank top over it.
The caption for his photo read: “Went to TopShop to buy some Girl Clothes, I mean ‘clothes.’”
In 2013, Smith introduced his own gender-neutral skirts and tunics in his own clothing line, “MSFtS”, and has continued to show that fashion should be directed towards both genders.
Student Lindsey Chereke had nothing but good things to say about Smith and what he is advocating.
“I love it, it’s brilliant. I am happy there’s an option for people who don’t identify with the binary female/male,” said Chereke. “It is nice to see someone advocating gender-neutrality.”
According to a report released in February by trendwatching.com, “People of all ages in all markets are constructing their own identities more freely than ever. As a result, consumption patterns are no longer defined by ‘traditional’ demographic segments such as age, gender, location, income, family status and more.”
While Smith represents a support for this change, gender-neutrality, overall, he seems to have taken a step forward in the fashion world.
Gender-neutral fashion has begun to appear more in department stores and is being seen less on the catwalk.
In the last year, Gucci, Prada, Givenchy, and YSL were among the top fashion houses that introduced gender-neutral collections.
Some of the more well-known clothing lines that target young adults, like H&M and American Apparel, are also supporters of this fashion style.
In March it was confirmed by American Apparel that in fall of this year they plan to introduce several gender-neutral pieces.
Cynthia Erland, American Apparel’s senior vice president of marketing, stated that gender-neutral clothes have long been a staple of its offerings, especially hoodies and jackets.
While society has always had the tendency to tell us that men and women need to dress a certain way, student Nancy Matias said, “I feel like fashion shouldn’t have a specific gender towards it.”
Everyone should be able to dress how they want and I think this is a step in the right direction towards gender equality.
Gender-neutral clothing is a reflection of how the fashion world is evolving to fuse together male and female styles without them belonging to specific genders.
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