Gender Bender

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It was the pussy bow blouses in Alessandro Michelle’s debut collection for Gucci’s spring/summer menswear show back in 2015 that poetically ushered in the era of and rogyny in men’s fashion. Permanently. This remarkable feminine infused show, replete with floral embroidery, lace tops, frilled collars, flyway blouses and grilled lurex tops saluted vintage Bowie, while the milkiest of silks imbued with delicate chinoserie and cherry blossoms made machismo seem like a stale fruit from seasons past. Joyous and radiant colours like buttercup yellow, scarlet, pink and violet blurred the lines of gender with a breathless whisper that emerged from the crevices of a soul that had decided to shun what the original idea of being male was. This fluidity carried with it an ease, or an alleviare as the Italians would say. In a world that now seemed to be teetering on the edge of chaos, it felt almost mandatory to alleviate the male consciousness to something romantic and…girly.