Gender, Society & Fashion

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Describing

My reflection on topic 3 ‘Gender and Fashion’, is inspired by the American Male short film by MTV. This video highlighted my ignorance to the disparity that society enforces between the idealized male figure and men in reality.   

I realised that I had not thought much about the implications of these gendered codes prior to my exploration of the topic further. The film highlighted the male vulnerability that powers within society try to cover up and ultimately mask. I learned how damaging this ‘covering up’ can be for males and how they are often unable to fully express themselves.

The most significant insight I gained from the short film, was the demonstration of the hegemonic masculinity mask that men are often forced to hide behind, which led me to question who enforces this mask?

Beynon (2001), states that men are not born masculine they are assigned this gender category and inherit its social cues. This also relates to my first reflection on ‘What is fashion’, where I discuss the rules of dress that govern individuals in society. In this way, the common of society have unspoken rules about gender dressing codes (Akedemir, 2018). Such codes relate to the fact that men should conform to dressing in a “masculine way” especially at work and that dressing in a “feminine” form could result in men losing their constructed strength and power.

This short film gave me insight into rules that men are encouraged to follow, that I had become so accustomed to and as a result forgot about their existence within society. As a woman I tend to focus more on how society norms control how women dress, this insight as caused a shift in my thinking to also include the perspective of the male and how there are codes that similarly affect how their bodies are also fashioned.

Interpreting

This new insight has pushed me to look at the differences between men and women and how this relates to fashion. This helped me to form the conclusion that throughout history women have been controlled by powerful forces of the male patriarchy, governing how they present themselves within society, as discussed in my last reflection. However, this topic has encouraged me to challenge this from another perspective, looking at masculinity and dress. As a result, a conclusion was formed that women hold expectations for men, and likewise, men hold expectations of women based on gender norms. This helped me to draw the conclusion that men can be also a victim of their own patriarchy, a form of internalised toxic masculinity that can manifest.  

Relating this to the fashioned body, I wanted to focus my attention on gendered bodies from a male perspective. This got me thinking about an example shared in class, of Vice President Kamala Harris wearing more masculine pantsuits to fit into a male-dominated environment. Although this highlights the struggles of women in the workplace, I flipped this and looked at how rare it is that heterosexual men would style themselves in a feminine way. This is not as common, men rarely stray from the suit, leading me to question if men are conforming more to male stereotypes than women. The business suit has made work masculine, synonymous with success and power. This view is strengthened by Barry (2018, p.640), who discussed that male clothing reveals gender performances that constantly articulate new masculine subjectivities, with an example shared of the “dark, boxy suit”.

Possible implications of this dress restriction might mean, that it leaves little room for men to be more expressive through dress. Especially when men’s emotional and psychological needs are often not met in society, I feel men should be given more room to be expressive or at least rebel against the confines of gendered dress.

Evaluating

This insight is important, it highlights the need to further dissolve rigid barriers that constrict men to certain codes of dress. Having formed the opinion that expression through fashion is important for males, I feel that the fashion industry has the opportunity to further break down these divides between what is ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ that appear ingrained within society as norms. It has highlighted the work that needs to be done to ‘stamp out’ damaging expectations that men should dress ‘manly’, control their emotions and appear strong, often in a suit.

Fashion has the opportunity to make it ‘cool’ for more men to express themselves and aim to abolish labels that create a further divide between what is ‘feminine’ and ‘masculine’. This insight has developed my understanding and importance of gender-fluid clothing, something that before I never really had explored. As Barry (2015) discusses in his paper, consumer culture provides a platform where men negotiate masculinity. This is similar to the contemporary changes in society that can threaten men’s gendered identities such as the increase of gender-fluid clothing. This realisation has uncovered the importance of having many forms of ‘hybrid’ masculinities, that allows space for men to be individuals instead of conforming to social labels or the threat of rebelling and being marginalized.

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Planning

My learning from this topic has certainly made me more aware of the gender issues within society, that restrict men and make it unusual to wear feminine style clothing. Moving forward with this greater awareness, I have realised the importance of gender-fluid clothing in reducing the disparity between labels of what is deemed ‘feminine’ and ‘masculine’.

In this way, my reflection has reinforced the fact that consumers have the power to call out unhealthy stereotypes of men, especially ones that are portrayed through advertising campaigns. Consumers ultimately control what is popular in the market with their buying power. Consumers have the ability to hold businesses accountable for portraying unhealthy ideals of masculinity that are unreachable for the male population.

This new understanding of how stereotypes are perpetuated by dress and fashioning the body will be useful in my career as a fashion buyer as I am more aware of feeding into the narrative that society has the power to govern how men dress. I feel this understanding will help me to be a more inclusive buyer that will prioritize male expression through clothing and different forms of dress.   

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References:

Akdemir, N. (2018). Deconstruction of Gender Stereotypes Through Fashion. European Journal of Social Science Education and Research, 5(2), 259-264.

Barry, B. (2015). The toxic lining of men’s fashion consumption: The omnipresent force of hegemonic masculinity. Critical Studies in Men's Fashion, 2(2-3), 143-161.

Barry, B. (2018). (Re) Fashioning Masculinity: Social Identity and Context in Men’s Hybrid Masculinities through Dress. Gender & Society, 32(5), 638-662.

Beynon, J. (2001). Masculinities and culture. McGraw-Hill Education (UK).

Pithers, E. (2020). London Fashion Week Is Going Digital And Gender-Neutral. Vogue. Retrieved from https://www.vogue.co.uk/news/article/london-fashion-week-digital-gender-neutral