Unisex clothing

The term "unisex", a combination of uni- and sex [ ˈjuːnɪˌseks ], refers to things designed to be suitable for both sexes and to a style in which men and women look and dress in a similar way. The term was first used in 1968 in Life, an American magazine that ran weekly from 1883 to 1972. The definition of "clothing" or "clothes" is described as items worn to cover the body. Therefore, "unisex clothing" is best described as clothing designed to be suitable for both sexes in order to make men and women look similar.

Although the first use of “unisex” as a term dates from the 1960s, it can be argued that “unisex clothing” its first appearance dates from the late nineteenth century, as part of the “Victorian dress reform”. It can be argued that in the nineteenth century fashionable clothing, which originated in France, reflected the dominance of traditional feminine roles. John Berger his famous statement ‘men act, women appear’ can be useful to further discuss the appearance of “unisex clothing”. Berger claims that, in Western European cultures, the role of men is considered active and that of women considered passive or, to put it differently, men observe women and women are observed by men. This asymmetry in the relationship between men and women was visualized in dress in the nineteenth century: women were more and more prescribed to fashionable clothing, clothing that disabled them to be active due to, for example, crinoline dresses that were very heavy, whereas men had the ability to be active due to their sober and simple clothing. An attempt to develop alternative feminine roles by the use of alternative clothing behavior started in England and the United States. For example, members of the women’s movement deplored the use of corsets and sets of ponderous garments and centred their proposals of dress reform on the adoption of trousers. However, they were unable to win the support of many women outside of their own group due to the basic premise of nineteenth century ideology concerning women’s roles in which “the belief in fixed gender identities and enormous differences – physical, psychological, and intellectual – between men and women” was at centre. One example of this was the organized “Symposium on Dress” in which three designs, that included either a divided skirt or trousers, were presented. These dress reform proposals were, at that time, very controversial and seen as too radical by the middle-class women, therefore, leaning more towards alienation than involvement of this potential group of supporters of the women’s rights movement.

...
Wikipedia