Antigender Fashion: The Possibilities of Gender-Fluid and Non-Binary Fashion Design (Dress, Body, Culture) - Hardcover

Beyer, Judith

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 135046600X ISBN 13: 9781350466005

Publisher: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2025

Synopsis

An open access book, Antigender Fashion is a rich examination of gender fluidity in contemporary fashion design, Judith Beyer develops an emerging new theoretical framework for understanding how fashion can blur and challenge gender boundaries.

How is gender fluidity in contemporary fashion different from 20th century androgyny or millennial unisex styles? Like antifashion, which opposes and challenges fashion, Beyer argues that antigender fashion seeks to dismantle and confront binary gender signifiers. After tracing the history of gender-blurring fashion from Marlene Dietrich's androgynous tailoring to Alessandro Michele's floral Gucci suits, case studies of four high-profile fashion brands reveal the diverse approaches to gender-fluidity in contemporary fashion.

Investigating each case study through multiple theoretical perspectives – from gender studies to gothic horror, cyborg theory to Afrofuturism – Beyer situates antigender fashion in a rich theoretical landscape and illuminates exciting new critical directions for students and researchers. Can antigender fashion influence the construction of contemporary masculinities and femininities – and can it be a catalyst for change?

The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by the Bloomsbury Open Collections Library Collective.

About this title

About the Authors

Judith Beyer is a fashion scholar and educator. Her research focuses on the intersections of fashion, culture, and identity, particularly gender fluidity and masculinities in contemporary fashion design. She has published in several journals, including Fashion, Style and Popular Culture, ZoneModa and the Journal of Bodies, Sexualities, and Masculinities.

Joanne B. Eicher is Regents Professor Emerita at the University of Minnesota. Joanne is Editor-in-Chief, Encyclopedia of Dress and Fashion (Bloomsbury and OUP); Series Editor, Dress, Body, Culture (Bloomsbury) and Dress and Fashion Research (Bloomsbury); Editor, Global Trade and Cultural Authentication: The Kalabari of the Niger Delta; and Co-Author, The Visible Self, (Fairchild); Dress and Gender (Berg); Dress and Ethnicity (Berg); Beads and Beadmakers (Berg); Mother, Daughter, Sister, Bride (National Geographic); and a wide variety of published articles in professional journals and chapters in books.

Edition details

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Visual Arts
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 135046600X
• ISBN 13: 9781350466005
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 256