Retailers should embrace genderless fashion

                   

Gendered fashion is on the way out. Fashion designers are mixing menswear and womenswear on the runway. Parents are pushing for genderless clothing that allows little girls to, say, wear science-themed t-shirts instead of princess dresses. And Quartz fashion writers are asking: “Sex and gender aren’t perfectly binary. Why should clothes be?”

To be sure, retailers like Gap, the North Face, and American Apparel have sold unisex clothing for years, though sizing is still typically cut across gender lines.

But moving toward a less gendered retail experience could also be a “business opportunity for retailers who create a comfort zone for people who don’t want to subscribe to one category,” writes market researcher NPD Group in a new e-book.
Some retailers are already moving in that direction. While Personnel of New York maintains “women” and “men” sections on its website, it also has a tab featuring genderless clothing and accessories called, simply, “Everyone.”

Just this week, Target announced that it was phasing out gender-based signage after customers complained that marketing products by gender was regressive and unnecessary. Target said it would remove signs in the home goods and entertainment aisles that delineate which products were meant for boys or girls, as well as the use of pink, blue, yellow, or green paper on its shelves in the toy aisles.

NPD argues that retailers could benefit from moving past the old-fashioned store layouts once designed to comply with increasingly outdated notions of gender roles (although it falls short of providing conclusive proof that consumers would actually buy more if stores dissolved the gender division).


Still, the argument makes sense. If men and women are going to wear the same pair of Converse or Vans sneakers, why stock them in separate “his” and “hers” sections of the store? If a woman shopping in a department store prefers the clothes in the traditional men’s section, does she have to lug them down to another floor just to try them on? Should a retailer give up on potential sales by alienating a woman who doesn’t want to shop in the men’s department?

Amanda Bynes Makes Surprise Appearance at Fashion Event in L.A.

Amanda Bynes attended her first Hollywood party in a long time Thursday night, making a surprise appearance at the launch of fashion designer Michael Costello's pre-fall capsule collection in Los Angeles.

Bynes, 29, who was last spotted in public in early June following two years of well-documented troubles, was photographed in a white lace minidress and dark sunglasses.

The former child star, who has attended fashion school herself at L.A.'s Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, toured the event and also spent time with Costello – a season 8 contestant on Project Runway – in a back room, perusing the outfits and chatting with his team about design and sketching.
A friend who knows the Costello team reached out to let the designer know Bynes was a fan and wanted to see his new collection.

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"[The friend] called and said, 'Can she please come to the event? She's, like, the biggest Michael Costello fan.' I think it's so cute when you hear that big celebrities are fans of yours," Costello tells PEOPLE.

The actress, whom her attorney said in June was in a better place after a turbulent few years of troublesome behavior, smiled for photographers as she left the Costello event.


"Michael was a doll to her, and she had a great time," a friend of Bynes tells PEOPLE. "Amanda was there as a student of design ... She was in a back room with Michael looking at dresses and talking to his staff about design and sketching."

Portlanders Share Their Cringe-iest Fashion Show Horror Stories

 The city’s top fashion show producers share some horrible experiences with thoughtless audience members—and recommend some etiquette for your next stylish outing.            
               

  In my many years of attending countless fashion shows, I can group the people who attend into one of two categories: those who came to see the clothes, and those who came to party. In the spirit of full disclosure, I will confess to having been both—but even then, I was a mannered partier. As the amount of shows in town continue to multiply like bunnies, we asked two of the city’s busiest fashion show producers about what they’ve experienced and what they beg of us all not to do.

  Elizabeth Mollo and MaryAnn Escutia who work on producing the shows for nearly ever event in town (including FashioNXT, Open Season, Fade to Light, Alley 33, and Unmentionables) give us the real talk on their experiences.

‘GENERAL ADMISSION’ MEANS YOU SHOULD SHOW UP EARLY TO GET SEATS

Elizabeth Mollo: At the last Fade to Light show we had a party of six people show up super late without buying the upgraded tickets with reserved seating and basically refused to sit, standing in the middle of the runway until they were all seated together which held up the show about 20 minutes. Also in the same show, people sat in seats that were clearly marked for a sponsor and refused to leave until we got a security guard to force them out of the seats so the sponsor could finally sit down.

Naomi Campbell Rewears Dress From 1998 Fashion Show, Still Looks Flawless: See the Then-and-Now Pics!

Slay! Naomi Campbell is the epitome of ageless beauty — at 45, she's just as gorgeous now as she was when she was strutting her stuff

                                                             

on the runway in her teens and twenties. She can even rock the same outfits!
PHOTOS: Supermodels, then and now
Case in point: Campbell dazzled at the 2015 Fragrance Fashion Awards in New York City on Wednesday, June 17, walking the red carpet at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall in a shimmering silver Versace gown she first wore 17 years ago.
PHOTOS: Celebs' early modeling pictures
The British model debuted the dress on the runway in Paris in July 1998, when she was 28 years old. It was, at the time, part of the presentation of Versace's Fall-Winter Collection for the 1998-1999 season.
  Pictures from that era show her practicing her walk in front of Donatella Versace, the silver fringe on the frock swinging as she sashayed backstage alongside racks of clothing.
PHOTOS: Celebs who date models
Fast-forward to 2015, and Campbell is still just as fierce — if not more so! Slipping into the gown again on Wednesday night, she was easily one of the best dressed stars in the room.
 

The Tony Awards Get Dressed Up

A little after 5 p.m. on Thursday afternoon, Beth Malone stood in the Manhattan offices of the fashion public relations company KCD trying not to appear out of place. It was a losing battle.
                                                 

Ms. Malone — who stars in “Fun Home” and is nominated for best actress in a musical — wasn’t sure whether the diamond-studded earrings from Jemma Wynne were supposed to angle upward or downward. Also, she was less than confident she had figured out how to stand in her black-and-white sleeveless J. Mendel dress with the slit down the middle.

“Leg out,” said Nate Hinton, a publicity director at the agency, which represents designer brands like Marc Jacobs and Givenchy, and who was helping to outfit her. “The leg is everything.”

“No way,” said Ms. Malone, not so much defiant as she was amazed at the suggestion. “Who’s that celebrity who did that?”

“Angelina Jolie,” someone nearby offered.

“Yes,” Ms. Malone said. “She looked like an idiot.”

“No, she didn’t,” said Ms. Malone’s publicist, Molly Barnett.

Ms. Malone remained unconvinced. For one thing, she’s a self-described cargo-pant-wearing lesbian, the sort who can barely remember the last time she had on heels. For another, she’s an actress working in a field in which borrowed clothes (and playing dress up) remain unusual.

Last year, Audra McDonald won her sixth Tony Award — a feat no other actor had accomplished — starring in the play “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill” — but she accepted the award wearing Escada, a brand not exactly known as fashion trendsetter. Jessie Mueller, who won for her role in the musical “Beautiful,” was outfitted by a little-known bridal designer named Randi Rahm.

At the Oscars, the most memorable fashion moments have generally involved entertainers like Cher and Björk going as over the top as possible. At the Tonys, no outfit in recent memory was more commented upon than Frances McDormand’s; in 2011, she accepted the award for best actress in a play wearing a Levi’s jean jacket.

But this year, change appears to be afoot.