jonnlynx designer Mariko Hayashi wraps up in an orange and gray reversible coat of her own design. She is drawn to silhouettes that are neither overtly feminine nor masculine.
What is genderless style? Is it women wearing men’s clothing, and vice versa? Is it removing labels such as “men’s” and “women’s” to create new ways of speaking and thinking about fashion? Is it a political act of resistance to gender norms? Is it self-expression?
— Hiromichi Ochiai, designer, Facetasm
As we have seen from talking with the individuals featured throughout this book, fashion-conscious people pursue individuality in fashion—styles that are true to themselves and what they love—without much regard for the latest trends. Challenging the typical gender norms in fashion is another way to express this individuality, and this approach has a special resonance in Japan.
It is nothing new for a woman to put on a tailored pantsuit or man’s shirt, styled with a belt at the waist and paired with a pencil skirt. Women have long borrowed from menswear for new silhouettes, more practical cuts and fabrics, increased comfort and utility, and of course, great style. To be clear, a woman wearing “men’s” clothing does not necessarily make the look genderless, any more than a man wearing a dress is adopting a style without gender. A classic tuxedo jacket and cigarette pants can be cut and styled to feel “feminine”—that is, by accentuating the waist and bust, or elongating the legs through the cut of the suit, a woman can make men’s clothes look more womanly. These are oft-repeated tips given in fashion magazines—even now—for how to borrow from the boys yet still look like a woman. This is not new, and isn’t likely to disappear soon, but this kind of fashion advice and gender-bending styling simply reinforces the idea that to be “feminine,” you have to narrow the waist or lengthen the leg, even if you are doing it in a man’s clothes.
What is new, however, is that at international fashion shows and on the streets of New York, London, Paris, Berlin, and other world fashion cities, we see an ever-increasing flexibility and openness about what people are choosing to wear, however they identify in terms of gender, and a more widespread enthusiasm for experimenting and exploring new cuts and styles, free from gendered constraints. More and more men are choosing genderless or “feminine” clothing to wear in everyday life, and it should be no surprise that they end up looking great. It is old news that Jaden Smith wears skirts and that Pharrell Williams collaborated with Chanel to promote their new handbag by wearing a classic Chanel tweed jacket and pearls. It has been a long time since women were able to shock others by wearing men’s clothes; now, when men are doing it, society often accepts these new styles quite readily.
Increasing awareness of gender fluidity and the experiences of transgender people is also fueling the popularity of genderless fashion. Preoccupations with whether or not the resulting look is “feminine” or “masculine” seem dated and irrelevant. Fashion weeks now feature menswear and womenswear together on the same runway, while some designers intentionally blur the differences to explore new possibilities.
In this chapter, we’ll look at the origins of genderless style in Tokyo and how designers working with genderless styles today are influencing trends worldwide. We’ll hear from fashion designers, select shop directors, and other influential figures in fashion to see how they have each created a style beyond gender that is as original as they are.
Although global trends are undeniably shifting toward genderless fashion, Hirofumi Kurino, senior adviser for creative direction at United Arrows, tells us that even prior to this, “Japanese people were less concerned with gender differences in fashion, and we already knew how to dress ourselves stylishly by simply creating our own style using whatever fine garments we could find.” The designers Rei Kawakubo, Issey Miyake, and Yohji Yamamoto were experimenting with genderless fashion for decades before their counterparts in the West caught on.
A NOTE ON TERMINOLOGY
Throughout this book, we have used the term used in Japanese, “genderless,” to mean not only “without gender”—though that is certainly part of it—but also to include blended androgynous and unisex looks to suggest a borderless approach to style free from old-fashioned gender categorizations. We have maintained the labels “men’s” and “menswear” to mean clothing traditionally designed for men (suits, waistcoats, neckties, jumpsuits, flight jackets, workers’ clothing) and “women’s” and “womenswear” to mean clothing and accessories traditionally identified as being cut and designed for women (skirts, dresses, form-fitting skirt-or pantsuits, heels, handbags) so that the comments from our contributors can be discussed more easily.
Publicist for the multilabel store Sister, Mina Koyama, wears a shirtdress from one of her favorite New York designers, Matthew Adams Dolan, with long tabi boots by Maison Margiela.
Yukiko Suzukawa, a staff member at Graphpaper, frequently can be seen in a uniform-inspired design, a navy men’s coat. The white shirt and pants under the coat are original unisex Graphpaper pieces.
— Adrian Hogan, Australian fashion illustrator based in Tokyo
As Kurino says, “Fashion-conscious women [in Tokyo] began wearing men’s clothing as many as forty years ago, using female fashion stylists’ private collections as a catalyst. Once women grasped the fact that men’s clothes were basically superior in functionality and comfort, they wanted to enjoy fashion freely without being conscious of arcane gender rules such as ‘buttons are on the left side of a blazer for women.’ Women in modern Tokyo have increasingly become less bound by fashion taboos, and they seem to truly enjoy genderless looks.”
Although Japanese people have become accustomed to genderless styling, many overseas visitors to Tokyo are sometimes surprised to see men’s fashions in particular. According to Kurino, “Worldwide, Tokyo might have the most fashionable men in any single city. Overseas, strong gender stereotypes are still in place related to labeling fashionable men as gay, so when foreigners come to Tokyo, they can be quite surprised.” Kurino gives tote bags as an example of a gender-biased cultural flashpoint: “To people in Japan, a tote bag is a very ordinary fashion item for men. However, overseas, a man carrying a tote bag will often be viewed as somehow more feminine because of the bag.” Japanese mainstream pop culture also routinely features men wearing women’s clothing. “Every day of the week,” Kurino points out, “Matsuko Deluxe [a very famous cross-dressing Japanese personality] can be seen on TV. And for many years men who dress in feminine styles have confidently walked the streets of Shibuya and Harajuku. In the end, I think that the reason behind this acceptance of so-called femininity among men is not just a lack of strict gender classifications, but also a loosening of strict social constraints in post–World War II Japan.”
— Rei Shito, street-fashion photographer
— Fumika Uchida, designer, FUMIKA_UCHIDA
While visiting our favorite boutiques in Tokyo, many of the designers and staff members we speak to echo Kurino’s assertion that genderless fashion is integral to Tokyo’s street style. When we ask Takayuki Minami, the director of the concept store Graphpaper, for his take on gender and fashion, he tells us, “I don’t want to be categorized under a certain genre. That applies to both myself and the stores that I produce. So, I think men and women freely enjoying fashion without any restrictions is really cool.”
Located on a quiet residential street between Shibuya and Aoyama that’s difficult to find on a map, Graphpaper’s two-story building has a bar where coffee and beer are available. It takes first-time (and even second- or third-time) customers some effort to find it, which is exactly as Minami intended. “Since this is an era when you can purchase anything on the Internet, the store must be a place that is worth visiting,” Minami explains. “Creating an environment is an important task for select shops like us. After losing their way trying to find the store, our customers are all the more amazed at discovering the destination once they finally arrive. I was very particular in selecting the location of the store because I wanted to create a store that could provide just such an experience.” This experience of the store as an art gallery and site of discovery is key to inspiring customers to find their own sense of style, according to Minami. “Style is something that customers create individually, so we created a space where the imagination of our customers can expand as if they were viewing art in a gallery.”
— Takayuki Minami, director, Graphpaper
As for categories within the store, Minami tells us, “We separate our original merchandise into men’s and women’s clothing, but we’ve noticed lately that women are buying men’s clothing, and men are buying women’s. I think that, like women, men who choose clothes based on their silhouette or design are increasingly common. I think this proves that the number of people who grasp fashion from diversified viewpoints is growing.”
Graphpaper is a multilabel concept store that presents its fashions in a gallerylike setting. Black canvases, which can be pulled back to reveal clothing, tableware, and household items, hang on white walls throughout the space.
— Mariko Hayashi, designer, jonnlynx
Designer Mariko Hayashi was an early adopter of this mode of dressing. She has preferred “masculine” styling since her teens and naturally gravitates toward men’s clothing, both in her clothing line, jonnlynx, and in her own personal style. “When I choose clothes,” she tells us, “I decide on silhouettes that don’t obviously appear to be women’s or men’s, and I pay close attention to the shape of the clothing I create and wear. However, I seem to be naturally attracted to the silhouette of men’s clothing. Maybe I am fond of male musicians’ styles? I find wearing a biker jacket over a bare body, like Hiroto Komoto [a famous Japanese rock musician], very attractive. I am always taken aback when I see someone whose style exudes their way of life, regardless of gender, like Robert Plant and David Bowie. I think such people are living life while being themselves without being influenced by gender norms and trends. I would love to spend each day without regrets while refining a style through which I can just be myself.”
— Hirofumi Kurino, senior adviser for creative direction, United Arrows
At the jonnlynx atelier where Mariko Hayashi comes up with her creations, she shows off her simple, chic styling, created by pairing a men’s Dolce & Gabbana vest worn with a black bra underneath and jonnlynx jeans. “I own a lot of clothing with pockets because I really don’t want to carry a bag. I regularly use a billfold wallet because I can carry it in my pants pocket.”
Mariko Hayashi pairs a vintage MA-1 flight jacket with a jonnlynx T-shirt, pants by the Japanese brand L’Une, and Maison Margiela tabi boots. The silver bracelet is Chigo, a Japanese jewelry brand. Needed or not on this cloudy day, her Savile Row rounded sunglasses add extra attitude to an already edgy look.
Hayashi styles this jonnlynx wrap coat in bold orange to create a warm, luxe silhouette.
Masami Sato is a well-known staff member at Anatomica who favors genderless styling. Anatomica clothes are based on classic designs that capture the essence of both Paris and Tokyo, with particular attention paid to elegant silhouettes, quality materials, and the highest levels of craftsmanship.
— Masami Sato, staff member, Anatomica
Masami Sato, also a fan of biker jackets, works at Anatomica, a popular select shop located on the east side of Tokyo. Sato is a well-known staff member there, and, when we meet up with her along Tokyo’s Sumida River, she tells us American culture is what inspired her own experimentation with men’s clothing.
“I have been interested in men’s fashion since I was a teenager. I was particularly fond of military styling, so I carried around a military bag everywhere when I was in high school. I still wear basic men’s clothes almost exclusively. I find the distinctive, straight-line silhouette of men’s clothing very attractive. I don’t own any skirts and I am not really fond of kawaii styles at all. I am really myself in those cool pants styles.”
Sato lists photography collections, like those by Bruce Davidson or Danny Lyon, as her fashion textbooks. It’s immediately obvious how much she loves the cool and tough worldviews she first saw in American culture as a child. A beret is her trademark accessory. To see how she styles it differently every day, achieving handsome new effects each time, check out Anatomica’s Instagram (@anatomica_tokyo).
As we’ve seen in Mariko Hayashi’s designs (see this page and this page) or Masami Sato’s styling (see this page), binary labels such as “masculine”/“feminine,” “menswear”/“womenswear” increasingly fail to reflect the concerns of fashion designers and people who wear their clothes. What’s more, they no longer seem adequate for how people—however they identify—actually live their lives or get dressed every day. If the point of fashion is to express individual style or a particular mood or a love of vintage or quality construction and tailoring, narrow, restrictive gender-based labels are simply not appropriate anymore. We see this reflected more and more by the up-and-coming people in the fashion industry.
— Riona Nakagome, student, Bunka Fashion College
Riona Nakagome, a model and student at Bunka Fashion College, tells us that her standard look is a pants-style outfit that complements her boyish facial features. “I own dresses and skirts, but I wear pants far more frequently than those. I own a fair amount of men’s clothing. I feel more like myself when I am in boyish outfits. And they make me feel more comfortable anyway. Maybe it has something to do with my boyish personality or maybe it’s because I have lots of male friends.”
— Mitsuki Mashima, student, Bunka Fashion College
Mitsuki Mashima, also a student at Bunka, who often wears monochrome looks, is addicted to masculine styling. “I often wear men’s clothes because I prefer larger silhouettes. Many of the clothes I choose are coats and shirts, which is to say, tops. I also specifically check out men’s fashion, and I like K-pop and British punk rock music and styles. I’m always checking out men’s styles on Instagram.” Mashima and Nakagome, both pursuing their interest in styling and international fashion at Bunka, prefer “cool” styling to kawaii, and are definitely ones to watch.
New brands are forming and existing brands are adapting to this increasingly popular trend. For example, Comoli, launched in 2011, is basically a men’s brand, but it attracted a strong following among female stylists, magazine editors, and buyers. The brand responded by repositioning itself as a unisex brand with smaller sizes for ladies. We ask designer Keijiro Komori why the brand attracted female customers, too. “One reason that women support our brand might be that our style falls between casual and formal,” he explains. “As young people grow older, those who don’t usually wear suits for work increasingly find themselves working with people in suits, so casual styles gradually end up being less practical and appropriate for their jobs and lifestyles. But a sudden switch to formal suits wouldn’t work for them either. I myself am that kind of person, and I want a style that comes between casual and formal—that’s why I make clothes.”
What is striking about this brand’s clothing is its genderless shape. The clothes are based on box silhouettes without curves, but the way the clothes rest on the shoulder, back, and hip is beautiful. The designers work with pattern makers who specialize in suits, which certainly influences the structured yet elegant lines. Even though the styles look loose, the overall effect is sophisticated and pulled together. The clothes seem both relaxed and to exude serious intention. Small collars on the shirts and jackets give an added air of formality to the clothes and the thick fabrics with sheen make them great for everyday looks and special occasions. Unlike other countries where people switch styles for different kinds of events, many Japanese people prefer to stick to one style, whether going to work or a cocktail party. Comoli offers looks that are designed to transition from day to night, a key reason why the brand is a favorite of men and women alike.
At Omotesando, Riona Nakagome rests the Moussy men’s motorcycle jacket on her shoulders rather than wearing it properly—this is quite calculated. The sweater is Perverze, a Japanese fashion label. The pants are from Zara. The cap is by 6(ROKU), which is an original brand from United Arrows.
In Shinjuku, where Bunka Fashion College is located, Mitsuki Mashima is wearing a customized vintage leather coat. She took in the length of the arms and cut up the belt to make cuffs around both sleeves. Her white shirt-dress is Alexander Wang and her shoes are Gucci. Both were found in vintage stores. Her Versace bag was passed down from her mother.
— Keijiro Komori, designer, Comoli
At the up-and-coming genderless clothing brand Hender Scheme, based in Tokyo, the first letter of “Gender” is replaced with an H—one letter after G in the alphabet. We meet designer Ryo Kashiwazaki and publicist Megumi Inoue, at the Hender Scheme brand store to ask them about this. As Inoue explains: “We aim for creations beyond the borders of gender.” Kashiwazaki, who first trained in psychology, creates designs that are neutral yet witty, a playful embodiment of this ethos. Using leather as the primary material, he designs genderless shoes, bags, and wallets, created in collaboration with experienced leather craftspeople using their meticulous leatherworking techniques. His fashion label is gaining popularity among both men and women in Japan (many couples visit their store in Ebisu and shop together) and the brand is also getting attention worldwide.
Another exciting label, Auralee was established in the 2015 spring/summer season. The designers and manufacturers put a lot of effort into their original textiles, and are extremely particular about their production. Their popularity is growing, especially with people in the fashion industry. Their basic styles like work or military are durable and classic. Although they categorize their clothing by gender, these are clothes for everyone, and recently more women are deliberately choosing their menswear.
When we ask fashion designers and industry leaders why they think Japanese designers have been at the vanguard of the genderless fashion movement, some suggest this early acceptance of “genderless” clothing has something to do with Japan’s traditional clothing culture. As Hirofumi Kurino explains, “For me, there is no conscious decision to separate men’s and women’s clothing” in traditional Japanese clothing culture. “If we consider Japan’s ‘kimono culture,’ we see that the concept of [men and women] wearing a single garment [draped and wrapped around the body] remains with us, almost like it is in our DNA.” Both men’s and women’s kimonos are cut in basically the same way, though the fabrics, design patterns, and ways of wearing them differ slightly according to gender. But for both men and women, the large, planar cuts of kimono fabric must be folded, adjusted, and secured each time they are worn to fit the wearer’s body. Wearing a kimono is basically styling a large, geometric, loose-fitting garment to fit your body in just the right way (albeit with strict rules as to how this should be done). This is why, according to Kurino, “Japanese people are good at adjusting the size of clothing [whether it’s vintage, menswear, or kimonos] by simply taking in or rolling up fabric to fit one’s body, while simultaneously gauging its overall silhouette.” They have to do it every time they wear kimonos, and this tradition has been handed down from those who used to wear them much more regularly.
Comoli does not categorize their clothes by gender; instead they have a range of smaller sizes—0, 1, 2, and 3—that are more likely to fit their female clientele. The jumpsuit that staff member Yoko Komori is wearing is size 2. With her Yves Saint Laurent short boots, Hermès watch, and Hervé Van Der Straeten earrings, she has realized a luxe-casual style.
The designer Keijiro Komori prefers a monochrome style—often in navy, khaki, or beige—and he frequently incorporates a belt made from the same color and material as the rest of the design.
Megumi Inoue, publicist, at the Hender Scheme store in Ebisu. The brand specializes in genderless shoes, bags, wallets, and other leather accessories enjoyed by both men and women.
— Megumi Inoue, publicist, Hender Scheme
Kanae Arai, fashion publicist at the Japanese brand Auralee, prefers loose silhouettes in her sweaters and T-shirts. “The more female stylists and magazine editors like fashion,” she tells us, “the more they end up choosing men’s clothing.” Here, Arai wears an oversize Auralee men’s knit cardigan.
Like traditional men’s clothing in the West, kimonos have straight silhouettes and don’t expose much skin. They wrap around the body like a suit jacket and are secured with ties and the obi (a decorative belt made of thick, woven, or brocaded fabric), which is tied in complicated ways that are not unlike tying a necktie. The finished look is not the same for men and women, but the way of dressing, taking something that is inherently gender-neutral and creating a gendered look with it, is what seems to have inspired Japanese fashion designers who have pioneered genderless designs. The kimono tradition is also inspiring for its individuality, how it makes the wearer look slightly different each time it is worn. When wearing kimono, the concern is less about whether the wearer’s gendered body is suitably displayed and more about whether the kimono itself is fastened properly.
— Hirofumi Kurino, senior adviser for creative direction, United Arrows
The conversation is no longer about “How can I make my boyfriend’s jeans and white Oxford shirt look feminine?” or “Isn’t this vintage French work jacket supposed to be for girls?” Wherever they are in the world and wherever their inspiration comes from, stylists, fashion editors, and everyday people are becoming much more concerned with an overall effect looking great on whoever is wearing it, rather than being concerned about women’s and men’s categories.
Nail artist Nagisa Kaneko inside her DISCO nail salon in Shibuya. Kaneko's look, including her vintage biker jacket, is pure boyish styling.
— Nagisa Kaneko, nail artist and owner, DISCO nail salon
If the 1990s can be said to be a watershed moment in street fashion, when people changed from head-to-toe coordination of high-end DC brands to more eclectic ways of dressing, the 2010s could be said to be another transitional moment from gendered to genderless fashion worldwide. And we seem to have Japanese designers and people on the streets of Tokyo experimenting with genderless styling to thank, at least to a point. It’s not hard to agree with Kurino when he says, “Tokyo currently leads the world in genderless fashion styles.”
Building on our exploration of some of the select shops specializing in kawaii styling and genderless style, in the next chapter we’ll continue looking at different iterations of Japan’s unique select shop phenomenon and how this has created a new genre of even more specialized concept stores. We’ll see how these boutiques offer total life styling—from clothing and accessories to food, music, and interior design, each store’s individual styling concept is uniquely expressed, offering customers not only items to wear, but also guidance on how to wear them; not just what to eat, but how to enjoy the whole dining experience and appreciate where the food comes from; not just what to buy, but how to live a fully stylish life. From expertly curated collections of up-and-coming designers to reworked vintage designs, the next chapter offers a glimpse into Tokyo’s vast range of possible lifestyles and unforgettable shops to explore.
