Gender Anonymous

Will this be the future of retail as society undergoes rapid cultural changes and more fashion and beauty brands make the move towards a non-binary approach in their businesses?

- Renée Batchelor

NOT SO VERY long ago, men were men, women were women and, anyone in between the two genders did not necessarily register in our collective consciousness. While almost every society had individuals within its communities that are non-binary (those who didn’t fit into the social construct of gender and its norms — from the hijra in India to the two-spirits in indigenous North American tribes) — these individuals existed on the fringes of society.

Modes of dress and presentation were also strictly gendered. In Western culture, men literally (and exclusively) wore the pants — until the day women started wearing bloomers underneath their skirts. In 1911, designer Paul Poiret created harem pants for women, and in the 1920s Coco Chanel made it chic to wear riding trousers beyond the stables. For most of the past century, the luxury of using makeup was almost exclusively a woman’s right — with some exceptions.

Fast forward to the present day: Every revolution begins with the tiniest of seeds, and a slew of game-changing new labels, brands and boutiques are taking the first, important step in bringing fashion and beauty firmly into the future. The question of whether the traditional segmentation of makeup, skincare, fragrances and clothing into categories like “male” and “female” is still relevant today is being questioned by forward-looking names like No Sesso, The Phluid Project and Jecca Makeup.