The Women of Menswear

by Kristy Emilia

A Prada menswear show wouldn’t be complete without a couple lady counterparts strutting down the intricate runway. At first it may seem a little bizarre as to why a designer would have females in a male-designated fashion week, but undoubtedly, women and men have been sharing the runway for multiple seasons. Sometimes they are hot dates, sometimes they are androgynous, and sometimes they are simply
his and hers. Miuccia explains her theory on the women of menswear: “Anytime I do a men’s show, I’m thinking this would be fantastic for women—or at least for me. And more and more, it feels instinctively right to translate the same idea for both genders” quoted from STYLE

Prada’s standard motley crew is now the essence of gender-neutrality. Instead of making his clothes that she can wear, Miuccia designed apandrogynous collection. Rather than possessing features of both male and female as androgyny does, pandrogyny does not define differences, it creates similarities. It is not the disconnection, but unification of gender. Pandrogyny is the conscious embracing of gender roles, sexual orientations, or cultural traditions so as to render the person's original identity completely indecipherable. It is the “third gender” that is sometimes referred to on this site, a type of gender-neutral living being more akin to the OTHER, or internal self.

From Kanye West head to toe in Céline, to the Olsen twins wearing three piece suits, to Marc Jacobs in Prada skirts, it is common to see women and men sharing clothes and the runway. But, becoming one in the same, is a third gender idea that Prada has projected next in the evolution of both our culture and our humanity. What a brilliant!