Girls & Boys - The Fashion of Music's Most Androgynous Icons
By Hannah Schmidt-Rees
If you’ve been on PERSPEX for a while, you know that I love androgynous fashion icons. Ranging from Ezra Miller to Prince, individuals who use fashion as a tool to express their unique identity and break the rules are my favourite fashion inspirations. A connection that often goes unnoticed however, is the link between androgynous fashion and music. Musician’s using their stage persona to explore their androgyny has resulted in some of the most iconic musical careers of our time. Artists like Grace Jones, Prince, David Bowie and Annie Lennox are four of the most iconic musicians of the 1970s and 80s, mostly due to their exploration into the gender unknown. Their immortalisation as androgynous icons can be summed up in their most androgynous looks, and what’s a better way to analyse them than recreating them myself?
(Images taken by @tropic_creative and check out the accompanying video by @kalitechnic_)
Prince
Now, I’ve already written about Prince’s fashion in another article here, but I wouldn’t turn down the chance to recreate his most iconic look. Combining 80s new-romantic fashion with a futuristic flair, Prince explores gender, sexuality and identity. Often wearing double-breasted suits, high-waisted trousers and his most iconic; the white ruffle shirt; Prince’s fashion was his and his alone. Exploring his romanticism, I couldn’t turn own the chance to wear his iconic ruffle shirt.
Grace Jones
Model and musician Grace Jones explores one of the most unique female androgynous personas, combining feminine sexuality with powerful masculinity. For the cover of her ‘Nightclubbing’ record, Jones’ most notable androgynous look is the intensely wide shoulder padded blazer. Wearing nothing under to showing her feminine form underneath the masculine garment, Grace Jones is perfect example of the powerful connection between masculinity and femininity. I love a good shoulder pad, and wearing something with an incredibly intense silhouette made my 80s dreams come true.
Annie Lennox
Most known for her work in the British pop duo Eurythmics, Annie Lennox’s androgynous look in the music video for the Eurythmics’ ‘Sweet Dreams’, has been immortalised as one of the most iconic androgynous looks. Wearing a men’s tailored suit, white business shirt and grey tie, Lennox’s look was already groundbreaking without the addition of her bright orange cropped hair. Sweet dreams are made of this, and recreating this look was the sweetest.
David Bowie
Whilst exploring androgyny throughout his entire career, Bowie’s most androgynous moment was his glam-rock alter ego; Ziggy Stardust, explored in the early 1970s. Most known for his bright orange mullet, blue alien-like eyeshadow and makeup; Bowie completely transformed himself to explore his alter-ego. His incredibly unique fashion (mostly designed by Kansai Yamamoto) has bright, bold, silhouette-breaking and typically asian-inspired. Going all out with a bright orange wig and vintage asian fashion, take it from me, there’s nothing better than completely transforming yourself and exploring your identity using fashion.
After recreating their most iconic looks, I understand why fashion is such an integral part of their androgynous personas. I felt so confident wearing these unique looks, expressing my androgynous identity so visually and so proudly. It’s no wonder why these androgynous musicians are so unique, their fashion breaks the rules upon first impression, allowing them to creatively explore their music further than other musicians in their industry.
If you want to read more about these artist’s androgynous fashion, then stay tuned and subscribe to PERSPEX because they’ll be coming soon!