User:Lauraelizabeth95/sandbox

Fashion and Gender Roles:

Norms governing gender-appropriate attire are powerful. Gender-specific attire enhances the internalization of expectations for gender-specific behavior. The biological differences between a female and males genes, chromosomes, hormones, and reproductive physiology and the social, psychological and cultural construct of society are the reason we create a separation between men and women. Technological innovation has allowed the expansion of the world market and making brand names easier to obtain, prompting companies to create brand personalities. When buying name brands, the mood of females are influenced more by their product selections than the mood of males. The idea of unisex dressing originated in the 1960's when designers such as Pierre Cardin and Rudi Gernreich created garments, such as stretch jersey tunics or leggings, meant to be worn by both males and females. The impact of unisex expands more broadly to encompass various themes in fashion including androgyny, mass-market retail, and conceptual clothing. During this time period, the separation between acceptable dress for work and acceptable dress for a casual event became unclear and women felt free to wear a wider range of clothes to work, from pantsuits to knee or midcalf-length dresses. In the early years of the decade new colors and patterns multiplied. Popular patterns included stars, flowers, big arrows, zigzag argyles, and Zodiac signs. By the end of the decade, female day wear returned to more classic whites, grays, and subdued solids; evening wear turned from colors to blacks and solids. The fashion trends of the 1970s, such as sheepskin jackets, flight jackets, duffel coats, and unstructured clothing influenced men to attend social gatherings without a tuxedo jacket and to accessorize in new ways. Some men's styles blended the sensuality and expressiveness despite the conservative trend, the growing gay-rights movement and an emphasis on youth allowed for a new freedom to experiment with style, fabrics such as wool crepe, which had previously been associated with women's attire was used by designers when creating male clothing. Based on the studies shown, gender roles and stereotyping has changed over time into a more balanced and equal society. Gender stereotypes are "products of culture", and there is a cultural difference in gender roles. The usual gender pattern between sexes is that the man is the dominant figure and during the 1970's most men were working occupational jobs; whereas women stayed at home or did clerical jobs such as a secretary or nurse. However, due to recent findings, it has been reported that women are now working more occupational jobs than men which is a impacting change in society. In the past few years transgender models such as Andrej Pejic, Lea T, Claudia Charriez, and athlete-turned-model Casey Legler have made their way into the menswear fashion scene. The growth of transgender and genderless fashion is taking place in San Francisco where Tomboy Tailors sells self-described genderqueer fashions for female-bodied people who have the freedom of self-expression.