Walking the Line: Androgyny Through the Ages
story by Megan Foster and Anastasia Rothlisberger, photos by Lindsie Avalos, design by Alejandro Vizcarra
When you think of historical fashion, imagery of dreamy gowns with layers, dapper vests and coats, hand-embroidered fabric, heavy jewels and powdered wigs may come to mind. However, despite the prominent usage we see today, it wasn’t just women wearing gowns, makeup or even high heels, it was men. In fact, men were wearing these items before women.
As the world has evolved to the new standards of society, styles have evolved too. The line drawn between what defines a piece of clothing as feminine or masculine consistently changes, and with it comes a new idea of androgyny.
Pink and Blue
Pink is for girls and blue is for boys. While this may be categorized, for some, as the general rule of thumb today, was this always the case?
“No,” Naomi Whiting, a CWU graduate student with the history department, says. “The answer is no…Originally it was blue for girls and pink for boys.”
These gendered colors that we are so familiar with in today's age were once reminiscent of the opposite values, and this opinion wasn’t unpopular.
“Gender symbolism in American children's fashions is ubiquitous,” Jo Paoletti, author of “Pink and Blue: Telling the Boys From the Girls in America,” says. “It is also transmitted clearly enough that most children know these unwritten rules thoroughly by the age of three.”
The thought behind the original denotion was that pink is a strong color, seemingly fitting for a little boy, and blue was pretty and dainty, seemingly fitting for a little girl, according to a 1918 article from the Earnshaw’s Infants’ Department.
“I remember when I had my son… I had him in pink all the time,” Andrea Eklund, professor and program coordinator of apparel, textiles and merchandising, says. “And my mother in law was like, ‘Oh, why is he wearing pink? That's a girl's color.’ I'm like, ‘Color? Pink is a color not a gender.’”
Today these lines continue to blur, but this designation of color between gender isn’t linear. “I think it's very generational… but we're getting more and more away from that and I love that,” Eklund says.
While pink and blue are historically the most gendered colors, the viewpoints are dispersed. “It varies really widely from place to place, country to country,” Whiting explains. “Sometimes there's yellow, but mostly [they’d] put them in white because then you don't have to know what gender the kid is before they're born.”
Denoted to Gender
Through the test of time, pieces of cloth have been cut, sewn and stitched together to be worn across our backs, except now, these clothes are widely gendered.
“[Men] were wearing, what we consider now, very feminine clothing,” Eklund says. “But it was just clothes.” Even with the societal stigmas that populate the physical, and digital, earth today, they are just clothes.
“I mean, if you go back to, you know, Egyptian time… everyone was wearing a toga around,” Eklund says. “You're all wearing a dress, you know, with a belt.”
The stigmas and stereotypes that now surround certain items of clothing have not been present throughout earlier periods in time. Accessories that are now widely worn by women, were once prominently worn by men.
“You know, men used to carry purses,” Eklund says. “They were like little satchels on their waist, and you carried all your important things in them. So it was very common for men to have like, beautiful little, basically little purses that they wore all the time.”
While we can see the presence of these pieces in different periods, they haven’t been as prevalent in mainstream fashion. “I think of the ‘Friends’ episode where Joey has the satchel…” Eklund says. “[B]ut back then it was very normal, because you needed something to hold all your valuables.”
The appeal of what many would now categorize as a feminine look was seen and felt widely by men.
“A lot of men are wearing heels because it makes their legs look fabulous…” Whiting says. “The whole thing about high heels making your legs look good goes back to the men with Marie Antoinette. They were like, ‘Man, my calves look great in this.’ Which is just wonderful.”
From a modern perspective, it can be difficult to imagine these pieces worn in a different fashion. Hope Pringle, a senior in theater design and production, expresses the importance of adjusting your lens.
“You have to try your best to take your modern lens out of it when you're looking at past gender expression and gendered clothing because there was a lot of split divide, but that wasn't all it was,” Pringle says.
Practicality in Play
Pieces that are now notoriously known for their style, may have been originally created for practicality.
“Okay, so heels… became a thing so that butchers wouldn’t have to stand in blood all the time,” Whiting says. “Then they end up being really convenient for horse riding, because you get your foot stuck in your stirrup and then you're not sliding all over the place.”
Eklund further explains the now glamorous shoe styles’ original usage. “Also, the streets are really gross,” she says. “They were nasty. So it was also [providing] a function, so [that] their actual foot would stay dry and cleaner.”
Style was perhaps restricted by the means of practicality and function. The things that were the easiest to make, were the things that were most commonly worn.
“Skirts is the big one,” Whiting says. “Especially the further you go back, the more skirts there are because pants are significantly harder to make than skirts, skirts are easy. So you have some sort of skirt pretty prevalent [in] most of the known world for all of ancient history, because it's the easiest thing to make. It's the most practical, least amount of effort.”
Practicality and function were big factors in children’s clothing. Gender neutral clothes can be seen on children throughout history.
“Dresses [are] specifically for young, younger boys specifically from the Victorian era,” Whiting says. “And you see that because there's so many fastenings on men's clothing that it is significantly easier to put a young child in a dress, because then you don't have to worry about all of the buttons. And it makes a more streamlined process for taking care of the child until they can actually perform those functions for themselves.”
Style by Status
“It was very classist, you know, back then,” Eklund says. “But if you had the means… there was a lot of fashion.” Rather than presenting an idea of gender, some items were used to showcase one’s status in society.
“Wigs are wild,” Whiting says. “In Ancient Egypt you have wigs, and it's more of seen as a status symbol rather than a gendered thing, and that goes through the 1700s, maybe into the 1800s, where you have the powdering of the hair specifically to… make you look older and more wise and all that.”
Wearing wigs was initially introduced by King Charles II, according to the European Fashion Heritage Association. Those who could afford the more expensive wigs, like the King and nobles, were able to have wigs made up of real human hair, while those who couldn’t afford them bought pieces made of goat or horse hair.
“It's a status thing because [if] you can afford to wear someone else's hair, you must have a lot of money,” Whiting says. “You get, also, women powdering their hair, like blue and pink, which is just fantastic.”
Geri Walton, a historical fashion blogger, explains this concept further. “Women’s hair powders could also be found in a variety of pastel colors such as violet, blue, or pink and often constrained scents such as lavender, roses, orange flowers, or jasmine.” However, white wigs were usually more popular amongst both genders because they were “rare and expensive,” Walton says.
Makeup was also a fashion trend that originated as a status symbol, for men and women alike. “Makeup being… the same sort of framework kind of develops, generally speaking, from having all of the diseases that we have in medieval Europe, because everyone's dying all the time,” Whiting says. “So to sort of cover that up, if you're wealthy enough, to make your complexion look better and nicer and then of course, you have the white makeup to show that you don’t have to go outside because you’re rich.”
Such an example is the famous Queen Elizabeth I. “It is known…that she contracted smallpox in 1562 which left her face scarred. She took to wearing white lead makeup to cover the scars,” Ben Johnson writes for Historic UK.
Wigs and makeup were not the only accessories sanctioned by status. “Heels as well end up becoming status symbols…” Whiting says. “If you're working in the field, you're not wearing heels. You're wearing straw sandals because it's easier for you to work in. You're not worrying about like, ‘Oh, [what] if I trip and fall then I break my ankle?’ and all that sort of fun stuff. Like ‘I'm going to prance around the palace.’”
Whether or not these fashion items were created for practicality or to flaunt wealth, none of them came with gendered expectations.
Blurring the Line
As time has progressed, it is safe to say that the idea of masculine and feminine clothing is being challenged by the new minds of the fashion industry. “I love, you know, people who can walk that line and kind of flip back and forth,” Eklund says. “And just like, ‘What are you feeling today?’ And that's what you're gonna wear. I love that, and I think it's super inspiring.”
Walking the line between gendered fashion has become more popular in trends today. “You do see a lot more androgynous wear,” Whiting says regarding current fashion trends. “Which, totally down for that, and then you see the crossing, manipulating, ignoring of the gender division of clothes. Which is super fun.”
The genderfluid look is becoming a target market for brands. “We're seeing more and more brands do that,” Eklund says. “And it's amazing, because, you know, it's just ‘What's your body?’ Not ‘What's your gender?’ Like, okay, take your measurements, and here's the size you are. It's not about, ‘Oh, well, men, it's, you know, a 32-34, and for women, it's the size, you know, 14.’ No, it's just take your measurements and here's the chart. It doesn't matter where you're at with gender, which I think is really nice. It, you know, levels the playing field.”
The prominence of this look on the racks may be in part due to the representation it's getting in the media. “I feel like there's a lot of very prominent celebrities that have been de-stigmatizing wearing clothing that isn't typically seen on your gender…” Sophia Angstrom, a junior majoring in theater design and production, says. “I think it's fantastic. I think everyone should wear whatever the hell they want and not be judged for it.”
Harry Styles, a famous musician and dabbling actor is a prominent example in pop culture today. Previously known as the heartthrob ladies’ man in One Direction, Styles is now recognized for his personalized suits, copious amounts of rings, dresses and feminized red carpet looks.
While on tour for his studio album “Fine Line,” fans used his style as inspiration, showcasing all types of androgynous wear across the world.
Kurt Cobain, head singer and songwriter of Nirvana, was a roaring example of androgyny from the 90s. “Cobain was fearless when it came to dressing,” Mina Dragoni writes for L’Officiel. “He would often take to the stage in floral gowns or leopard jackets to emphasize the fact that he was unconcerned with the limitations of gender.”
Cobain was widely known for challenging the status quo of the music industry, but with that rebellious spirit, he also challenged the stigma around gendered clothing.
“It's very interesting to kind of look at historical figures that blurred those lines,” Pringle says. Celebrities like Harry Styles and Kurt Cobain are prominent figures in the public eye, they make perfect models to display the controversial blurring of lines between masculine and feminine fashion.
As we look at the history of fashion over time, it is important to remember that clothes really can represent whoever is wearing them, regardless of gender. “I think that's one of the amazing things about clothing is you can look through pictures from a really long time ago [and] if someone feels confident, they look amazing, no matter what,” Eklund says.
