An oldie from 1999.
In the future will we all be wearing corresponding uniforms like the ones worn by the crew of Star Trek? A few fashion designers have predicted as much.
“Modern people want to wear uniforms,” Gianni Versace explained in the book Fashion 2001. “You don’t have to take time to select, to choose.”
The standardized, gender-free uniform envisioned could take the form of jumpsuits, one-piece garments, or matching unisex wardrobes.
Although it is admittedly something of a far-flung notion, the concept has already made some inroads in popular culture.
The new wave group Devo (right) used to don matching jumpsuits as a part of their stage act. Each member was virtually indistinguishable from the other—in essence, they surrendered their identities for the whole of the group.
Many people find this idea repellent, a violation of personal expression. Others consider it an ideal way of diminishing the symbolic value of clothing.
Fashion designers, who often cater to status and wealth, have been the strongest supporters of a neutral, gender-free clothing. Couturiers such as Rudi Gernreich (whose designs are featured left and below right) specialize in clothes that offset the disparities between rich and poor, male and female.
A new wave of unisex fashion began to appear in haute couture designs. “Meant to be a sexless uniform for space-age living,” writes Colin McDowell in McDowell’s Directory of Twentieth Century Fashion, “these clothes were in fact very sexy indeed.”
Androgyny has played a large role in this trend, reversing traditional notions of femininity that previously enforced a code of modesty, chastity, and virtue.
Women’s fashion choices increased exponentially with the feminist movement. Suddenly they were free to wear suits and pants; men, too, could be found dressing in floral prints and sporting earrings. The next step, some believed, was the creation of a totally gender-free unisex garment.
In theory, identical uniforms would eliminate the outward appearance of a power structure. Since the workplace, in particular, tended to reinforce notions of hierarchies, logically, it would serve as the proving ground.
Fictional work settings such as Star Trek allowed male and female crew members to wear corresponding uniforms with only colors to set them apart. Each color represents a particular job but not the person’s rank.
For many, this notion of military-like uniformity conjures up visions of gray, faceless masses, a totalitarian nightmare straight out of Huxley’s Brave New World.
But most fashion experts believe a standardized, corresponding uniform isn’t likely to become a reality anytime soon. And there are a few who argue it has already arrived.
“I would say a pair of Levis 501s and a white T-shirt,” replies Stéfane Houy-Towner of the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art when asked if the unisex, gender-free uniform will ever become reality.
“The democratization of clothing is represented by jeans and t-shirt,” explains Houy-Towner. “You can be rich or poor and wear the same thing. It’s completely neutral.”
