Written by The Strategy

Boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen— you’ve heard them, you identify with at least one of them, and yet more and more the lines between them are blurred. 

Gender, much like art, is subjective. There is no black and white—or blue and pink, if you will—guidelines to what is feminine or masculine. People such as Laverne Cox, Caitlyn Jenner (albeit, controversially), Andreja Pejic, and countless others are icons of a wave of acceptance and understanding, if not conversation in the least, about what gender means to us. 

The newest faces brought to the front of this conversation are Jaden Smith and director/writer Lana Wachowski. Jaden is part of the SS16 Louis Vuitton Womenswear campaign. There hasn’t been any specification whether or not the decision is related to Jaden’s gender identity. On the contrary, Lana was recruited by Marc Jacobs for his SS16 campaign because of her role in transgender awareness, specifically her 2012 Human Rights Campaign Visibility Award alongside other influential, powerful women in the eyes of Jacobs.

The fashion community is generally open armed when it comes to unique lives. An artist is an artist, a person is a person. There is a level of respect for those who live the life they feel is truly theirs. Coming from an industry that relies upon image equally as much as creativity, expression is highly valued. It was keeps the industry moving. Without those creative images, what is the point?

Having those individuals who are so bold as to accept they are not mentally the gender they were born, the women who wear mens clothes, men who enjoy their femininity are necessary, and anyone who lives in that growing grey area is necessary. A boy in a womenswear campaign and a transgender women as a focus in fashion is necessary.

Our image is linked so closely to our identity that it’s sometimes difficult for people to understand those who feel free in a typically “unconventional” image. Gender, fashion, identity— these are not static things. They change and evolve as the people who occupy those terms do, without realization or effort most times. No one actively chooses their identity so much as they just be. 

So while many people question why these unique people are living the life they live, the fashion industry is living it with them.

An artist is an artist, a person is a person, fashion is fashion. 

Written by Katrina Garofalo

*Images via id-vice.com