Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Parallel Lines

Upon first glance, there doesn't seem to be anything unusual about Tussh's latest editorial:

Avant-garde clothes, long messy hair, jutting cheekbones, sullen model....
the usual ingredients are all there

Until......

Pics via TFS

Only upon a second glance and display of prominent biceps does it become obvious that the figure modeling women's clothes is, in fact, a man. Had a male model with little muscle mass been used, I doubt we would have noticed at all. Perhaps most disturbingly, the last dress looks practically identical on both the male and female models:
pic via style.com

The visuals are a bit grotesque, but thought-provoking. After all, does the aforementioned male model really look more overtly masculine than female models like Iselin or Freja?



Pics via femininebeauty.info
(fascinating website, by the way, I suggest you check it out!)


Obviously androgyny in fashion is nothing new, but what's most striking about this is the blatant homogeneity of men's and women's bodies in fashion- when female fashion models, our supposed "ideals", fill out garments in a nearly identical manner to men, is it "edgy" or are the aesthetics of women's bodies being merged with men's, losing their own identities in the process?

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