Fashion is obsessed with gender, defines and redefines the gender boundary. It couldhelp the people to disguise their true “sex” or to help them to perceive their“gender”. Through wearing the type of cloth that one prefers, it helps him/herto present an outer appearance that does not match the inner reality of his/hersexual self. This essay uses the study of unisex clothing as a way tounderstand the role of fashion is relation to the deconstruction of traditionalnotion of gender. Moreover, Unisex clothing is not that uncommon, it can befound in different places, such as soldiers, babies, prisoners and someeducational institutions are required to maintain the same uniform.
According to Paoletti, gender, to some extent, can be constructed under cultural influenced, without being confirmed by the result of sexuality and fixed by sex. Thus, in a sense, gender can be discussed under a wider scope to exert influence on the people’s behavior.
The relationship between clothing and gender can beexplained in the process of fashion history. Fashion is not only a trend, akind of behavior way permeability in the process of the society, it is alsoseen an infiltration process and includes the constantly changing process ofthe value connotation of people in different times. Thus, fashion involved inall aspects of life, such as in dress, food, behavior, living, and evenemotional expression, seen as a way of thinking in people’s life. In general,clothing can be functional to endow connotation for specific gender withhistorical and social meaning. According to Arnold (2001), it has explored theconcept.
“Inhighlighting difference, incongruity becomes another way of suggesting thatthings are not as they seem. Cross-dressing disguises one’s sexual identity andpresents an outer appearance that does not match thinker reality of one’ssexual self.”
- Arnold,R(2001)
