age-less , race-less , label-less , limitless , and nothing less . In the absence of these restrictions , Hourani has created something that is more . His garments are decidedly neither feminine nor masculine . They are both , yet neither , at the same time . They are simple . They are freaking gorgeous . They just are .
At the other end of the spectrum , we find WRKDEPT .
The creative offspring of Andy Long Hoang and Tinashe Musara , WRKDEPT clothing is engulfed in colour and heavy in print ( something Hourani shies away from ). WRKDEPT ' s approach is massively influenced by their backgrounds . It is a mash-up of different cultures from the East and the West ; one that pays homage to both without falling into the traps of appropriation . Their unpredictable design philosophy embraces all manners of cultural , historical and ethnological influences to create collections of clothing that express the non-binary .
“ When designing , we focus more on the style of the garment rather than the shape of the body . We stay away from anything form-fitting and concentrate on an oversized silhouette to drown out the idea of a sex or a particular form ,” says Musara .
WRKDEPT is a fun streetwear brand that seems just as felicitous for Rihanna as it does A $ AP ROCKY . Their collections both merge and completely blur any notions of separating masculine and feminine sensibilities .
Of course this isn ’ t just about embracing the gender-bending fashions of a David Bowie . Bowie borrowed liberally from both the male and female sides of fashion and gender . But , he also got away with it because he was a rocker . A performer . Nor is this about following in the footsteps of a high-heeled Jaden Smith who shows us that boys can wear skirts ( and quite well ). Nor is it simply the masculine styling of feminine clothes like Young Thug who was proudly thugged-out in a silk blouse by Gucci .
This is about a direction in fashion that designs with and without a gendered body at the same time . What we can see in both the work of Rad Hourani and WRKDEPT are garments that are inherently unisex ( or non-gendered ) rather than borrowing tropes from the opposing genders ’ fashion playbook . They are rooted in and co-opt from notions of gender and dress outside Western culture and yet feel part of our current fashion lexicon .
So while both Rad Hourani and WRKDEPT could be seen simply as academic explorations of the role of unisex in fashion , they aren ’ t . These are not laboured explorations of unwearable clothes for the sake of change . They are simply beautifully made clothes that would feel at home in many peoples ’ wardrobes – male or female or otherwise identified . That is the beauty of the edge of fashion . It places gender as a construct from your mind not from your body .
Sylvanus-Urban . com The Edge
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