In 2016, when we have men modelling skirts in womenswear ad campaigns, making a big deal about traditional sartorial gender divides seems passé
Is this a shirt or a blouse? Hmmm. It is cotton and crisp, with a shape dictated by its own seams and creases, rather than by the body wearing it, and it has blue stripes, all of which say: shirt. On the other hand, its primary distinguishing feature is a large bow, which is most definitely blouse-territory, and said bow throws the centre of gravity of the piece off-centre, which again says blouse, rather than shirt. (Masculine clothing tends to be more symmetrical than women’s. A shirt is embellished with a straight-down-the-middle necktie, in contrast to the floppier collars and brooch potential of a feminine blouse.)
Dunno. What do you think? Really? OK, so it’s a bit of both. So this is the point, normally, where we dream up a name for this new shirt-blouse hybrid. Um, the blirt? The shouse? Needs work. And anyway, not the point. In 2016, when we have men modelling skirts in Louis Vuitton womenswear ad campaigns, making a big deal about traditional sartorial boy-girl divides seems a little passé. Much more modern to shrug and say they’re just clothes, right?
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