By the year 2001, we were supposed to be wearing corresponding uniforms--standardized, gender-free jumpsuits, one-piece garments, matching unisex wardrobes.

Or, at least, that's what a few fashion designers predicted. "Modern people want to wear uniforms," the late Italian designer Gianni Versace explained in the book Fashion 2001. "You don't have to take time to select, to choose."

The concept has made some inroads in popular culture. The new wave group Devo used to don matching jumpsuits as a part of their stage act. Each member was virtually indistinguishable from the other, surrendering their identities for the whole of the group. 

And, of course, there is the crew of Star Trek where male and female crew members wear corresponding uniforms with only colors to set them apart. Each color represents a person's particular job but not their rank.

For many, the notion of a uniformed future conjures up visions of gray, faceless masses, a totalitarian nightmare straight out of Huxley's Brave New World. But for certain courtiers of the fashion world, it is still something of utopian dream.

The first wave of unisex fashion began appearing in haute couture designs in the early 1960s. "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."

Emilio Pucci lead the way with fanciful jet-age uniforms (left) created for Braniff Airlines. Pucci's eye-popping apparel completely refigured fashion for the space age. Wearing their layered "strip tease" outfits, the staff of Braniff looked ready to take off to the moon. 

A fan of Pucci's designs, astronaut Colonel David Scott contacted the famed designer in 1971 to devise the official emblem for the Apollo 15 space mission. Pucci created an emblem that simulated three moon vehicles flying in formation. NASA granted its approval and the designer could proudly claim his fashions had actually been worn in space.

Pucci wasn't the only designer inspired by the achievements in space. Ever since the original seven Mercury  astronauts donned their bulky, silver spacesuits in the early 1960s, the image of space travel had created a set of icons for pop culture.

The astronauts exuded confidence. They were the new breed, our very own extraterrestrials. And back on Earth, people wanted to emulate them. More and more, cutting-edge technology was becoming a part of their lives. It was only a matter of time before space motifs became a pop statement, the kind of stylistic device favored in fashion circles. 

High-profile designers, including Andre Courrèges, Pierre Cardin, and Paco Rabanne, began dabbling in space-age fashion, adopting a futuristic look that owed an obvious debt to astronautic apparel. Fabrics, in particular, began to reflect the silver metallic look of spacesuits; helmets, too, were a striking fashion accessory.

Of all the designers, Courrèges stood out, creating designs that sparked a revolution in fashion, emphasizing new materials (plastic), new designs, and new attitudes (androgyny). 

In theory, identical uniforms eliminate the outward appearance of power structure and social standing (one reason they are riding a wave of renewed popularity in school systems) by erasing, rather than reinforcing, notions of hierarchies.

But will a unisex, gender-free uniform will ever become reality? 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. "The democratization of clothing is represented by jeans and t-shirt. You can be rich or poor and wear the same thing. It's completely neutral."