After yesterday's thought provoking post on androgyny I thought I would try to be a little more light-hearted today on the subject, key word try. I've had these street style photos shot by Tommy Ton from the menswear collections in my archive for awhile now and as school is officially back in session menswear-esque items are a route I want to explore more in my style as you saw on Monday. In these photos I found it extremely interesting to see how the men and women both explored typical feminine and masculine traits in their suits and ties. The color schemes, cuts of the suits and accessories in these images are like sartorial porn for me. So much inspiration, so many ideas, so many things that I suddenly feel like I need in my life like a purple and pink polka dot tie, a straw boater hat and over-sized men's trousers. How am I surviving???? Ok, that's enough materialistic wallowing for me.
What I really wanted to discuss was how interesting it is to see that at the menswear collections practically everyone, men and women were seen clad in 3 piece suits, ties, loafers other types of men's inspired something. Yet at the women's wear collections you don't see a plethora of men running around in skirts and dresses. In the chaos of androgyny I was especially interested in the statement that was made about how in our society (Western culture more so than Eastern) we experience a sting of anxiety and hostility when we see a man in a skirt. Not that everyone feels this way, I certainly don't but for the most part a guy could not be seen walking around in a pleated leather Givenchy skirt without being ridiculed unless he was in New York. It's sad that these sartorial barriers have been broken for women and we just completely left the men behind. True androgyny will not exist until men can be accepted in women's wear just as easily as women can be accepted in men's wear.
