The reflection is on how much and how men's fashion has changed over the last few years. Surely before the 2000s a man who was interested in men's fashion was isolated and seen in a different way. After the 2000s, the situation slowly began to change, under the influence of innovative designers and pioneers in the sector such as Raf Simons and Hedi Slimane, men's fashion has transformed, recounting the difficult theme of masculinity. New magazines were born, such as Another Mag, Fantastic Man, and 10 Men, Zara, Top Man, H&M began offering skinny jeans, draperies, patent leather shoes. Meanwhile, groups of young people who share the same passion, the same style, gather in certain areas of the city such as Shoreditch, Williamsburg, Canal St Martin. These great little revolutions have made way for today's landscape, in which it has become common for many innovative designers to emerge from menswear rather than womenswear. This evolution would have been nothing without its precursors such as mods and peackocs between 1960 and 1970. But the changes that have taken place in men's fashion since the beginning of the new millennium are varied. Crucial was the fact that the institutions of the sector began to give credit, incentives and a way of expressing themselves to men's fashion designers: since Hedi Slimane launched Dior Homme with great success, the largest fashion houses began to understand the potential of this " new ”slice of the market. As a result, designers such as Alessandro Michele for Gucci, Lucas Ossendrijver for Lanvin and Jonathan Anderson at Loewe have been given great freedom and opportunity to develop and promote their menswear collections. Another important factor was the emergence of new gender models. Despite periodic reactionary backlashes, today "homophobia, misogyny, violence and homosocial separation associated with orthodox masculinity are increasingly out of fashion". (Anderson, 2009: 153) and there is an increasing disaffection from the idea of the hegemonic form of gender expression. So summing up on the one hand we have the luxury houses that intercept the value and potential of this sector and in addition there is an increasingly fervent desire to mix genres and move away from the idea of the common male, the way is opened for new approaches aesthetic and not only in the field of menswear. Fashion, with all its limitations and frustrations, can be considered one of the few spaces where genres are free to mix without rules, and the place where all this is accepted. The main objective is to stimulate reflections, interpretations, connections, and try to direct the reader's attention towards possible scenarios in which "objects" ordinarily distant from each other can compose together a background picture, whose frame is a representation of the male gender "invented" to maintain a hierarchical order, in modernity that was for men a guarantee of privilege but also of integrity. Hobsbawm wrote "the traditions that appear to us or are expected to be ancient often have a rather recent origin, and are sometimes invented from scratch". The idea that nature had forged the male gender for leadership and excellence was certainly not new, but it was forcefully reaffirmed in a precise historical turning point and described as an eternal and indisputable truth, just as it began to be seriously contested and threatened. The apparently natural virtues of the male (strength, courage, honor, sense of command and superiority) were thus amplified rhetorically, combined in a severe identity profile (virilism, indeed: a sort of ideological exasperation of masculinity). The initial intent is to thoroughly investigate both the obvious occurrences and those places where masculinity opens up to composite readings, to try to problematize stereotypes and highlight unprecedented aspects of the masculine and the forms of its representation. The main purpose is to go beyond a simplistic and monolithic conception of masculinity. The aim of this path is to bring out the complex nature of what we commonly call masculinity through fashion that always releases and conveys new male models. Thinking about the models of the masculine also means bringing to the surface the ambiguities and analyzing the different ways in which identity is built. The main question is: what role does fashion play within the production of meaning on this issue? Centuries of fashion history have taught us how clothing is a pure expression of the contemporary world we are experiencing. But then I wonder, is fashion the tool that has truly freed man from constraints, aesthetic canons and made him free to express himself for what he wants to be? Fashion has certainly been an instrument of expression that has contributed to the spread of new aesthetic standards, but it is also that means through which man has been forced for a long time to play a part that was probably not entirely his own. Clothing was a great renunciation but also a great liberation. For years he has indulged stereotypes of toxic masculinity that painted a man who never existed. It is from this that emerges the fact that today more than ever fashion is the fundamental tool that can help to break down those barriers, those margins that still delimit men and women. It is definitely not wearing neutral and wide garments to hide the shapes the way to get out of it. We will be free from gender when we can decide whether to wear a skirt, trousers, top without being afraid of being judged. Fashion has given us the tools to express who we are. What is missing is a conscience, an education to think that we are not male or female, white or black but we can be everything at any time. BEYOND is the representation of how all the stereotypes we associate with masculinity cancel each other out in an inclusive collection that goes “beyond” genres. Simple, classic fabrics, soft colors for a natural palette, wide straight but also slim volumes, for a collection ready to be worn by anyone. BEYOND is a set of products to be associated to express what we want to be. It is a stimulus, it is an educated provocation.
La riflessione è su quanto e come la moda maschile sia cambiata nel cor-so degli ultimi anni. Sicuramente prima degli anni 2000 un uomo che si interessava di moda maschile veniva isolato e visto in maniera diversa. Dopo gli anni 2000 la situazione è lentamente iniziata a cambiare, sotto l’influenza di designer innovativi e pionieri del settore come Raf Simons e Hedi Slimane, la moda maschile si è trasformata, raccontando il difficile tema della mascolinità. Nascono nuovi magazine, come Another Mag, Fantastic Man, and 10 Men, Zara, Top Man, H&M iniziarono a propor-re skinny jeans, drappeggi, scarpe di vernice. Nel mentre, si raggruppano in determinate aree della città come Shoreditch, Williamsburg, Canal St Martin, gruppi di ragazzi che condividono la stessa passione, lo stesso stile. Queste piccole grandi rivoluzioni hanno fatto strada al panorama di oggi, nel quale è diventato comune per molti designer innovativi emergere dal menswear piuttosto che dalla moda donna. Questa evoluzione non sarebbe stata nulla senza i suoi precursori come i mod e i peackoc tra il 1960 e il 1970. Ma i cambiamenti che hanno avuto luogo nella moda uomo dall’inizio del nuovo millennio sono svariati. Cruciale fu il fatto che le istituzioni del settore iniziarono a dare credito, incentivi e modo di esprimersi a designer di moda maschile: da quando Hedi Slimane lanciò con grande successo Dior Homme, le più grandi case di moda iniziarono a comprendere la potenzialità di questa “nuova” fetta di mercato. Come conseguenza, a designers come Alessandro Michele per Gucci, Lucas Ossendrijver per Lanvin e Jonathan Anderson da Loewe è stata data grande libertà e possibilità di sviluppare e promuovere le loro collezioni uomo. Un altro fattore importante è stato l’emergere di nuovi modelli di genere. Nonostante i periodici contraccolpi reazionari, oggi, “l’omofobia, la misoginia, la violenza e la separazione omosociale associate alla mascoli-nità ortodossa sono sempre più fuori moda”. (Anderson, 2009: 153) e c’è sempre più una disaffezione dall’idea dell’egemonica forma di espressione di genere. Quindi riassumendo da un lato abbiamo le case del lusso che intercettano il valore e la potenzialità di questo settore e in aggiunta c’è sempre più una fervente volontà di mischiare generi e allontanarsi dall’idea del maschio comune, si apre la strada a nuovi approcci estetici e non solo nell’ambito del menswear. La moda, con tutti i suoi limiti e frustrazioni, può essere considerata uno dei pochi spazi in cui i generi sono liberi di mischiarsi senza regole, ed il luogo dove tutto questo viene accettato. Il principale obiettivo è stimolare riflessioni, interpretazioni, connessioni, e provare a indirizzare l’attenzione di chi legge verso possibili scenari in cui “oggetti” ordinariamente lontani l’uno dall’altro possano comporre insieme un quadro di fondo, la cui cornice sia una rappresentazione del genere maschile “inventata” per conservare un ordine gerarchico, nella modernità che fosse per gli uomini una garanzia di privilegio ma anche di integrità. Hobsbawm scrisse “le tradizioni che ci appaiono o si pretendono, antiche hanno spesso un’origine piuttosto recente, e talvolta sono inventate di sana pianta”. L’idea che la natura avesse forgiato il genere maschile per il comando e l’eccellenza non era certo nuova, ma fu riaffermata con forza in un preciso tornante storico e descritta come una verità eterna e incontestabile, proprio quando iniziò ad essere seriamente contestata e minacciata. Le virtù apparentemente naturali del maschio (forza, co-raggio, onore, senso del comando e superiorità) vennero così amplificate retoricamente, combinate in un profilo identitario severo (il virilismo, ap-punto: una sorta di esasperazione ideologica della mascolinità) L’intento iniziale è quello di indagare a fondo sia le occorrenze palesi, sia quei luoghi in cui la mascolinità si apre a letture composite, per tentare di problematizzare le stereotipie e mettere in luce aspetti inediti del maschile e delle forme della sua rappresentazione. Il proposito principale è quello di andare al di là di una semplicistica e monolitica concezione di mascolinità. Obiettivo di questo percorso è far emergere la natura complessa di quella che chiamiamo comunemente mascolinità attraverso la moda che rilascia e veicola sempre nuovi modelli maschili. Ragionare sui modelli del maschile significa anche portarne in superficie le ambiguità e analizzare le diverse modalità attraverso le quali si costruisce l’identità. Il quesito principale è: quale ruolo gioca la moda all’interno della produzione di significa-ti riguardo questa tematica? Secoli di storia della moda ci hanno insegnato come l’abbigliamento sia pura espressione della contemporaneità che stiamo vivendo. Ma allora mi chiedo, la moda è quello strumento che ha veramente liberato l’uomo da costrizioni, canoni estetici e lo ha reso libero di esprimersi per ciò che vuole essere? La moda è stata sicuramente uno strumento di espressione che ha con-tribuito alla diffusione di nuovi canoni estetici ma è anche quel mezzo at-traverso il quale l’uomo per tanto tempo è stato costretto ad interpretare una parte che probabilmente non era totalmente sua. L’abbigliamento è stato grande rinuncia ma anche grande liberazione. Ha per anni assecondato stereotipi di mascolinità tossica che hanno dipinto un uomo che non è mai esistito. Proprio da questo emerge il fatto che oggi come non mai la moda è quello strumento fondamentale che potrà aiutare a rompere quelle barriere, quei margini che delimitano ancora uomo-donna. Non è sicuramente indossando capi neutri e ampi da nascondere le forme la via per uscirne. Saremo liberi dal genere quando potremo decidere se indossare una gonna, una pantalone, un top senza aver paura di essere giudicati. La moda ci ha dato gli strumenti per esprimere quello che siamo. Cio’ che manca è una coscienza, un’ educazione al pensare che non siamo maschi o femmine, bianco o nero ma possiamo essere tutto in ogni momento. BEYOND è la rappresentazione di come tutti gli stereotipi che associamo alla mascolinità si annullino in una colle-zione inclusiva che vada appunto “oltre” i generi. Tessuti semplici, classici, colori tenui per un palette naturale, volumi dritti ampi ma anche slim, per una collezione pronta ad essere indossata da chiunque. BEYOND è’ insieme di prodotti da associare per esprime quello che volgiamo essere. E’ stimolo, è un’educata provocazione.
Masculinity. Beyond : gli infiniti volti della mascolinità
Grilli, Carlotta
2020/2021
Abstract
The reflection is on how much and how men's fashion has changed over the last few years. Surely before the 2000s a man who was interested in men's fashion was isolated and seen in a different way. After the 2000s, the situation slowly began to change, under the influence of innovative designers and pioneers in the sector such as Raf Simons and Hedi Slimane, men's fashion has transformed, recounting the difficult theme of masculinity. New magazines were born, such as Another Mag, Fantastic Man, and 10 Men, Zara, Top Man, H&M began offering skinny jeans, draperies, patent leather shoes. Meanwhile, groups of young people who share the same passion, the same style, gather in certain areas of the city such as Shoreditch, Williamsburg, Canal St Martin. These great little revolutions have made way for today's landscape, in which it has become common for many innovative designers to emerge from menswear rather than womenswear. This evolution would have been nothing without its precursors such as mods and peackocs between 1960 and 1970. But the changes that have taken place in men's fashion since the beginning of the new millennium are varied. Crucial was the fact that the institutions of the sector began to give credit, incentives and a way of expressing themselves to men's fashion designers: since Hedi Slimane launched Dior Homme with great success, the largest fashion houses began to understand the potential of this " new ”slice of the market. As a result, designers such as Alessandro Michele for Gucci, Lucas Ossendrijver for Lanvin and Jonathan Anderson at Loewe have been given great freedom and opportunity to develop and promote their menswear collections. Another important factor was the emergence of new gender models. Despite periodic reactionary backlashes, today "homophobia, misogyny, violence and homosocial separation associated with orthodox masculinity are increasingly out of fashion". (Anderson, 2009: 153) and there is an increasing disaffection from the idea of the hegemonic form of gender expression. So summing up on the one hand we have the luxury houses that intercept the value and potential of this sector and in addition there is an increasingly fervent desire to mix genres and move away from the idea of the common male, the way is opened for new approaches aesthetic and not only in the field of menswear. Fashion, with all its limitations and frustrations, can be considered one of the few spaces where genres are free to mix without rules, and the place where all this is accepted. The main objective is to stimulate reflections, interpretations, connections, and try to direct the reader's attention towards possible scenarios in which "objects" ordinarily distant from each other can compose together a background picture, whose frame is a representation of the male gender "invented" to maintain a hierarchical order, in modernity that was for men a guarantee of privilege but also of integrity. Hobsbawm wrote "the traditions that appear to us or are expected to be ancient often have a rather recent origin, and are sometimes invented from scratch". The idea that nature had forged the male gender for leadership and excellence was certainly not new, but it was forcefully reaffirmed in a precise historical turning point and described as an eternal and indisputable truth, just as it began to be seriously contested and threatened. The apparently natural virtues of the male (strength, courage, honor, sense of command and superiority) were thus amplified rhetorically, combined in a severe identity profile (virilism, indeed: a sort of ideological exasperation of masculinity). The initial intent is to thoroughly investigate both the obvious occurrences and those places where masculinity opens up to composite readings, to try to problematize stereotypes and highlight unprecedented aspects of the masculine and the forms of its representation. The main purpose is to go beyond a simplistic and monolithic conception of masculinity. The aim of this path is to bring out the complex nature of what we commonly call masculinity through fashion that always releases and conveys new male models. Thinking about the models of the masculine also means bringing to the surface the ambiguities and analyzing the different ways in which identity is built. The main question is: what role does fashion play within the production of meaning on this issue? Centuries of fashion history have taught us how clothing is a pure expression of the contemporary world we are experiencing. But then I wonder, is fashion the tool that has truly freed man from constraints, aesthetic canons and made him free to express himself for what he wants to be? Fashion has certainly been an instrument of expression that has contributed to the spread of new aesthetic standards, but it is also that means through which man has been forced for a long time to play a part that was probably not entirely his own. Clothing was a great renunciation but also a great liberation. For years he has indulged stereotypes of toxic masculinity that painted a man who never existed. It is from this that emerges the fact that today more than ever fashion is the fundamental tool that can help to break down those barriers, those margins that still delimit men and women. It is definitely not wearing neutral and wide garments to hide the shapes the way to get out of it. We will be free from gender when we can decide whether to wear a skirt, trousers, top without being afraid of being judged. Fashion has given us the tools to express who we are. What is missing is a conscience, an education to think that we are not male or female, white or black but we can be everything at any time. BEYOND is the representation of how all the stereotypes we associate with masculinity cancel each other out in an inclusive collection that goes “beyond” genres. Simple, classic fabrics, soft colors for a natural palette, wide straight but also slim volumes, for a collection ready to be worn by anyone. BEYOND is a set of products to be associated to express what we want to be. It is a stimulus, it is an educated provocation.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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Descrizione: Masculinity, gli infiniti volti della mascolinità
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https://hdl.handle.net/10589/184066