Androgyny In Fashion And Models

[Carrme]

^i know what u mean...usually i mix it all up...wear something really girly, like a girly dress, a bow in my hair, nailpolish and red lipstick and then breaking the rules by wearing something really boyish like a pair of these Oliver Twist shoes...
its prob not really androgyny but i like it

Oliver Twist shoes one of my fav pieces

 

[fairy]

^i usually wear my boy's but i bought myself a pair recently

 

[ElectricAlyce]

ive seen ur pics in the Pictures of Us thread and i think i gave u karma cos i think u look f***ing ace!

thanks to you and IncurableLunatic

 

[PonyShow]

^ As long as you mix some gender-specifics, I don't think there are anyone writing down rules about what is and what isn't androgyneous


edit: shameless self-exposure:

* Please remember not to quote images. Thank You.

{picture of me, photographer Therese Elida Mittet}

you look like one of my ex girlfriends.

 

[ElectricAlyce]

you look like one of my ex girlfriends.

hmmmm, should I take that as a bad thing or a good thing?

and on topic:
Eleonora Bose by Max Vadukul
I-D june 2001

{from fotodekadent}

Rest of the pictures here:
Link @ fotodekadent
(which you may have to use since there has been some trouble with tFS and imageshack, I belive)

 

[John_M.]

I've been wanting to post something into this thread for the longest, but never had anything to really talk about. So let me try here.

Being an artist, you learn to appeciate things as art. Some things have unique qualities because of how they can be expressed as art. Being a homme, I often find beauty in androgyny, especially that of a unisex combination. It's something I envisioned when the metrosexual thing was kicked off a few years ago. It was about feminizing men's fashion to where there were feminine touches, yet still purely masculine. There's a certain magic to androgyny which makes models and their fashions look great.

I believe my experience with understanding androgynous beauty has to do with a young man whom I've seen in the men's bathroom at my community college once. I see this long-haired person who I thought was a girl in the wrong bathroom. Turns out, this person with long blonde hair was a guy. I eventually got to know him. He was a transvestite who wanted to be a "she." What struck me about him was just how handsome (and even beautiful) he was. It was then that I got to know my first openly-gay person, and then the first transgendered person I've known. But just thinking about these pictures and the fashion involved, really made me question beauty. Like I'm more struck to males with feminine beauty. It's something I've thought of with the metrosexual trend back in 2006 or so. Beauty- not just masculine or feminine beauty, but just unisex beauty. During my time between returning to Houston from Beaumont and getting my Associate's in the Arts last month, I've known more boy-looking girls than girl-looking boys (two of which were good friends of mine). The more I began to see these kinds of things, the more I tended to imagine androgynous beauty. Thefashionspot.com people... inspiration drives me with everything I do. This is a real unique concept.

What I find beautiful about androgyny in fashion is when there's a perfect marriage of homme and femme in looks and in fashion. I'm personally attracted to a homme with a handsome face, beautiful hair, and maybe even a nice body. Attracted artistically to them. It makes me imagine if certain fashion styles could cater men as part of a unisex deal. * With femmes, I'm always attracted to a femme who is beautiful in looks and while dressed up in a boyish way, while not TOO boyish. It's this kind of "between the lines" aspect of androgyny that makes this good in fashion as well as art. I can't pinpoint exact models and pictures I like since this is such a massive thread. So there... I've FINALLY found something to contribute to this thread after avoiding it not having anything to chat about.

 

[ElectricAlyce]

One thing that fascinates me with androgynity (especially in fashion) is the established 'parts' of androgynity, what is beautiful and what is not. Everyone can picture a beautiful, feminine girl with short hair in a mens suit and call it androgyneous and pretty. Yes? Well, now picture a really macho (but good-looking), muscular guy with long hair in a flowery dress. Is this androgyneous? There are dozens of 'macho' feminist, hairy man-wannabe girls out there, but that's the point, they ty and look like a MAN, and my other example would be man to WOMAN - in my experience, what is percieved as the beautiful and fashionish side of androgynity has more to do with boy and girl than man and woman. I don't know if that makes any sense at all, but think about it

 

[cuiviénen]

^ I think I understand what you mean Personally, I love/embrace androgyny and certainly stylistically adapt it to the way I dress. As a straight female, I find that I get equal attention from men and women (moreso on the female side!) which at first thought was disconcerting. Although upon reflection and after viewing/reading this wonderful thread I no longer take it as something to be baffled by...I now recieve such attention as a large compliment!

 

[MUXU]

talking about mixing gender specific items together, i cant wear all girly or or boyish outfit in one. i love wearing black pencil mini skirt but i like to mix with with a pair of black combat boots.
my features are too round to look actually androgynous

funny quote in your sig fairy haha

talking about macho men with flowing hair and flower dress, isn't fabio sort of like that? he does have pretty decent long flowing blonde hair

 

[ElectricAlyce]

talking about macho men with flowing hair and flower dress, isn't fabio sort of like that? he does have pretty decent long flowing blonde hair

but it still doesn't come across as androgyneous, does it? he is still very much masculine (just in a different way )

you also got the whole metrosexual men-thing going, which is, perhaps androgynity on a small scale?

 

[MUXU]

metrosexual haha, i didnt know metrosexual come across to women as well. i always thought it's a men's thing.

fabio is macho sensitive. though not look androgynous but supposingly have both male and female traits. there was a mock commercial for his own brand of shampoo. all clouds and white horses and his hair flying everywhere in the commercial, it was hilarious

 

[John_M.]

One little note in making my previous post... I do not buy into the "macho man" deal in regards to androgyny in fashion and in models. I don't consider myself macho at all. Meet me on the streets, and you'll probably see that I'm pretty friendly and caring and helpful. Like when I've looked up manskirts online (just window shopping and not seriously buying anything (I don't do online shopping anyways)), all the male models were muscular to show (I guess) the ideal man in something like a manskirt. I don't think such skirts (or any other garments) could be marketed to men by having hommes with "girly" bodies. Always has to be the average build 20-something. Only exception would be more full-figured or husky bodies for some of the larger size material.

My "official" status of orientation is a heterosexual male that's very slightly bi-curious. I took this into account in envisioning a homme with feminine beauty traits speaking as a male. I guess in much the same way I could be drawn to Jessica Alba or Penelope Cruz (at least for a feathered dress she wore at one awards show last year or two years ago) for their beauty, I think there are some males out there that even us guys would admit being beautiful people. I questioned feminine-type beauty for men as far as this androgynous topic goes both with casual clothing and semi-formal/formal clothing. Think of a guy in a white T-shirt, a long denim cargo skirt, and either a good pair of sneakers or any kind of men's sandals. I've once known a girl at my community college who usually wore these lovely long skirts, espexially one of those floor-length denim trumpet skirts. So I know about the beauty long skirts can provide. A guy I seen around my community college had on a pink sweater with some small 3D flowers on it. He wore some white pants and some white oxford shoes to go with the pink sweater. It's very possible that feminine-style garments can easily showcase the beauty of the male figure while not being too feminine to make some guys uneasy wearing them.

Maybe since I'm a guy, there have been some femmes that I've known that look too boyish that they can easily be confused for hommes. This is what I call overdoing it. Some times in 1997 (I was a 9th Grader), a good friend of mine had on a polo shirt along with some jeans and sneakers. She's a beautiful girl, but she looked too much like a boy. I can admit that nothing ticks a girl off than confusing a boyish girl for a guy. I think bold pants paired with a feminine top and maybe a newsboy cap makes for a boyish look while still being really feminine. I've always liked that semi-formal/formal look of a tight-fitting top paired with wide-leg pants as a "best of both worlds" look. Add a jacket that matches the pants and maybe even a cute hat, and you're even more stylin'.

On the modeling side, wearing a jacket or button-down shirt that's not zipped up or buttoned up is a chance to show some skin. I've seen male models wearing a button-down shirt that's opened up, showing his hard muscles and handsome face. Some female models who try this are either putting up risqué shots (think of a pregnant Christina Aguilera posing on a cover of Marie Clare magazine) or having masculine-like beauty in a photoshoot. The key for me in looking at such images is not so much artistically showing androgynous beauty, but a best of both worlds approach that showcases beauty in a unique (and sometimes sensual) way. Those that can master both masculine and feminine beauty and imitate the opposite gender successfully come up with some of the most memorable and amazing pictures.

 

[ElectricAlyce]

My "official" status of orientation is a heterosexual male that's very slightly bi-curious. I took this into account in envisioning a homme with feminine beauty traits speaking as a male. I guess in much the same way I could be drawn to Jessica Alba or Penelope Cruz (at least for a feathered dress she wore at one awards show last year or two years ago) for their beauty, I think there are some males out there that even us guys would admit being beautiful people.

This might be a hint off-topic, but it is a topic that fascinates me. A heterosexual girl can comment on another girl's beauty, or her sexy legs, or her big boobs and nobody lifts an eyebrow. But if you ever heard a heterosexual man commenting on how beautiful Johnny Depp is, or how they admire mister Beckham's chest-muscles (ok, cheep example but you get the general picture) - you'd draw the conclusion that "uhm, okey, he is gaaahaay!"

And by the way, I love your use of the world "official"!! Here's a flower

Muxu - no, I think it's a description of the male side of it. The female side of the same coin (the "add-some-sides-generally-assosiated-with-the-opposite-sex"-coin) came quite a while ago with the feminism, industrialism and, of course, with YSL's Le Smoking The strong, individual business-woman with a diploma from Harvard and killer heels in her pant-suit. You know the stereotype. The meterosexual man came with the pink polo-shirts, more vanity, more softness, more awareness of beautyproducts and skincare etc. (sadly, the meterosexual man has turned from a nice concept to a (at least where I live) word to describe rich daddy-boys with too much gel in their hair and the feminine prep)

 

[MUXU]

haha, yea, metrosexual seems be be getting a bad name lately. it's generally associated with gay men which some men find offensive...
but i still dont see myself as a metro though, i spend maybe $100 a year on beauty products verses a woman who spend £30 each month. i rarely wear make up and dont brush my hair haha. funnily enough, i dont like to wear sneakers of any sort other than plimsolls occasionally because i find it not chic/posh for me haha. i feel like a walking contradiction and one end doesnt meet the other

 

[fairy]

i like to look like a mess (that i am) but i love to throw in a pair of heels when i do

 

[MUXU]

haha, that's how i feel sometimes too. but i tried looking like a deliberate mess and always end up looking like an overdone christmas tree. i would like to wear heels more often like i did before but traveling around london forbids me to do so

 

[fairy]

^yeah same...when i know we're having a big night out with lots of dancing, i dont wear heels

 

[gius]

sailors outfit is always androgynous ...

a scene from a film by visconti: death in venice

deftboys

 

[MUXU]

she looks like a model but i cant remember her name
i like her look

 

[ElectricAlyce]

soo many pretty androgyneous boys in Slimane's fashiondiary!!