Fashion follows culture.

And at ETHS, students’ increasing freedom of self expression mirrors society’s slow progress in terms of gender boundaries.

There has been a recent surge in the acceptance of self-identification and the rejection of the gender binary, a shift that has even filtered its way up to corporations such as Target, who recently stated their intention of eradicating gendered sections for children’s clothing in their stores. The individual’s definition of gender is increasingly accepted as fluid, leading to a decrease in pressure to identify as a single part of the binary.

“The fashion world becoming more open to clothing that falls outside the traditional binary is a sign that our society is becoming more open to the idea of fluid identities,” notes ETHS junior Zoria Kamholtz-Roberts.

The concept of androgynous fashion is not new. Chicago-based creative director and personal stylist Meredith Smyth says, “A lot of fashion is simply recycling elements of the past.”

The objective isn’t to deconstruct the monikers of mens and womenswear, but rather to change the way that all genders can pick and choose from both predetermined categories in order to personalize what they want to wear

“I don’t think the boxes are as defined as they have been in the past,” says Smyth, “it’s just one more area where the shackles are coming off.”