During the last years the world has been impacted with progression, opening our minds and developing a new spirit of freedom when it comes to identity. Gender is no longer a questionable feature when analysing a person and it’s professionalism. The fashion industry had always been around stereotypes of what women and men should wear but lately these last seasons have become the key to open eyes. Not only because some designers have created unisex collections or even desexualise fashion but they are giving a whole new level to their consumers, where they can choose how they want to look no matter race or gender. (See image above) A good reference for this trend to come is the Juun J. 2013 campaign, which shows a neoprene pullover being used by two different genders. That explains the vision of the house that is specialised in menswear but clearly giving the message that any one could wear them.

Caitlyn Jenner is one of the examples about how our generation is getting closer to the movement of “being our selves”. She appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair, exposing clearly how hard is to become who we want to be and not being discriminated or excluded from society. And since Jenner got to the top of the iceberg, all minds have changed for better. A new vision of what a human could be is changing, now finding happiness is more important than pretending. Transgenderism is one of the hot topics at the moment, but there are so many other realities that reflects this now common trend that forces the industry to become even more personalised, reflecting exactly the dream of their consumers, whether if they are one gender or another.

Bryan boy has always been on the spot thanks to his stunning taste for fashion, where clothes has the meaning of art, therefore, it’s not relevant if the piece is recognised as womenswear or menswear, because the meaning is to expose the “piece of art”. As example, He has wore extraordinary bags from Louis Vuitton by Nicholas Ghesquière. Bryan has also mixed menswear with womenswear, giving a more personal vision of fashion, creating an unique style that is based on the freedom of choice. In fact, Louis Vuitton Cruise 2016 had some looks that were definitely without gender, clothes that were made thinking in an aesthetic and not about female or male.

We have grown old seeing past generations looking for happiness in a wrong way, where there is no difference between individuals. The past looked more homogenised than now and getting a one-life job was the “the key” for happiness, which now sounds old fashioned. Younger generations look for experiences, to live and learn, not to pretend to be like everybody else and not to stay in between what’s acceptable for the rest. Men looking feminine, Women looking masculine, people getting desexualised or choosing different ways to live have opened a new way to the future, where dreams can come true by the decisions we make. We are no longer the reflection of society but our selves. That’s why the coming trend for the fashion industry is to create pieces that reflects a lifestyle, a dream or a desire, getting away from stereotypes of gender or any other kind of prejudice. Fashion is the way people can express themselves and to get to a closer look of who we want to be or represent.

It’s clear that the boundaries between what a man or a girl can do does not depends on what gender they were born with. As society we have learned that there’s no difference between sexes and if we look forward we will see a future where consumers are more likely to buy a brand that it fits personal choices. The fashion industry is leading this change not only by promoting unisex collections but by giving the space for consumers to create themselves and explore themselves, to learn from the experience of experiment. That is why icons like Caitlyn Jenner or Bryan Boy have been an important step for evolution, because they have wore the most important fashion houses, changing paradigms and boundaries that no longer work in the 2015-2016. The more we empower people with new visions the more we will grow.

HBA Hood by Air, J.W. Anderson, Rick Owens, Rad Hourani and Nico Panda are just some examples of fashion houses that are driving the trend, forgetting about the old stereotypes and becoming a free spirit for the youngest generations, giving a voice and a manifesto that it does represent them. As an example, the last menswear collection for spring/summer 2016 by Givenchy by Ricardo Tisci shows exactly the trend, where men can wear skirts and can actually look both masculine and feminine at the same time. Clothes have no gender and so Givenchy put this on practice by killing old traditional clothing, giving a strong empowerment to men to wear accessories and even a skirt.

Fashion should be the source for humans to express their differences, variety is part of our society and so that term should be put on practice in every scale, from the cuts to the colour palette, from the personalised website to the personalised customer support, being able to respond all kind of demands from all kind of people.

As seen in the last cruise 2016 and menswear spring/summer 2016, a more minimalistic feeling will raise the stores, giving a cleaner and more neutral aesthetic that will give the space for people to look desexualised and more authentic, the basis is to become the customers’s first skin, then accessories or “it pieces” will decorate the outfits giving the personal expression. A more uneven uniform look that explores a futuristic aesthetic where women and men are one.