Now, gender-queer persons have better chances to express how they feel inside with what they can now wear on the outside. Fashion is starting to realize that humans come in all sizes and shapes and don’t need to be shoehorned into binary clothes (dresses for women, menswear for men), the traditional categories for shopping in retail stores.
Will and Jaden Smith’s son, Jaden Smith likes wearing dresses as they “flow.” In Louis Vuitton’s Women’s Wear Campaign, you can see him shirtless wearing a kilt. Just seventeen, he is stunning with his blue nail polish and red flower behind his ear in another shot. Jaden is challenging gender and seems to be neither female or male, but nevertheless comfortable in his skin.
February is Fashion Month in Manhattan and you’re sure to see a lot of the androgynous 6’1” model, ex-farm girl Rain Dove, in menswear fashions, but more fluid than Annie Hall in the 70’s. In the latest Marc Jacobs Campaign, Milk, a relative of Harvey Milk, and his boyfriend James Whiteside kiss.
Fashion is just beginning to reflect the changes in our society. Butchbaby & Company is creating maternity wear for genderqueer parents. The Verge fashion show by Gogo Graham at the Brooklyn Museum showcased last September trans/femme models strutting clothing specifically for Trans women.
Perhaps, David Bowie was on to something with his evolution of gender-bending fashion before others came out of the closet.
When Your Child Is Gay: What You Need To Know
For more detailed advice, see book, co-authored with a mother of a gay son and a psychiatrist, Jonathan L. Tobkes, M.D.