Genderless refers to a movement that restrains from judging someone by dichotomized gender.

We often come across the statement, ‘pink is for delicate girls and blue is for the cold, rational boys.’ But is this true? With gender sensitivity heightening, many areas in the world are trying to bring down the boundary between things that we have clearly divided with the colors, blue and pink for men and women. It’s the so called phenomenon of genderless or gender neutral. Rather than defining someone with dichotomized gender, the movement recognizes and respects wide variety of individual originality and personality. Here’s a deep look into ‘genderless’, a phenomenon receiving much attention from the fashion, beauty, culture, and educational industries.

Pink is a masculine color?

It hasn’t been long since the color pink had become the symbol of femininity.

Do you think it’s natural to give pink lace skirt to girls and blue dinosaur t shirt to boys? But such decision may not be made by the kids but a socially planted bias. Historically pink was often considered a very masculine, intense color.

A long standing American women’s magazine ‘LADIES HOME JOURNAL’ describes the ‘social atmosphere’ in 1918 to a reader who asks which of pink and blue is for girls and boys respectively. “The generally accepted rule is pink for the boys, and blue for the girls. The reason is that pink, being a more decided and stronger color, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl." One thing seems to be clear here; that there is no specific color that would suit you or be appropriate for you because you were born as a certain gender. The concern regarding genderless is now not just limited to ‘colors’ but is spreading to all areas in the society.

Genderless look that pursues my own, unique beauty

Genderless look does not put focus on differentiating who’s female and who’s male.

A famous male actor wore pearl necklaces and clothes with frills for a press conference. On the other hand, a female actor wore a neat black suit for an award show. The fashion industry is now paying attention to genderless look, where people show off their ‘originality’ rather than masculinity and femininity. This change is taking place with the high fashion brands first. Luxury brands including Gucci, Bottega Beneta, Burberry and others are starting to put together a single fashion show for men and women collections which were separately introduced in the past. Fendi launched handbags for men, which was considered exclusive products for women. Global eyewear brand Kivuli launched products with ‘hyper gender’ concept in 2019 S/S season to bring down the boundary between male and female fashion.

Genderless look is moving towards going beyond gender, unlike the existing unisex look where women looked like they were wearing men’s clothes. It is expanding to various products including square drawers, leggings, handbags, etc., and is shattering the bias of “this isn’t right for men/women.” Now, when we go shopping, ‘how well it suits me’ rather than social judgment is becoming an important criterion.

Cosmetic products chosen by taste not gender

Products that focus on individual’s taste is being developed, starting with perfume brands

Why must male cosmetics products have the musky alcohol scent and female cosmetics products have the flowery scent? We are now seeing changes in the beauty industry as well. Products that focus on individual taste rather than gender are being developed. High end niche perfume brands such as Jo Malone and Diptyque are showing such strong trends. They recommend perfume not based on masculine or feminine scent but your personal preference for citrus, spicy, or woody scents.

In Korea, we see more and more men putting on makeup. According to a research conducted by Lotte Department store in 2017, male customers purchasing color makeup products have increased by 7% from 4% in 2012 to 11% in 2016. Korea actually have detected such a movement in consumers, and a gender neutral makeup brand LAKA was launched in 2018. Their main product was lipstick, which can be used by both men and women. Approximately 20~30% of sales were from male customers.

Gender free casting for all roles

Theater is seeing active gender free casting for all roles.

In arts, genderless is moving towards the direction of breaking up not only gender but also nationality, race, age, and all sorts of stereotypes. Especially works with ‘gender free casting’ where characters’ gender is not considered are increasing. Such works can deliver greater reverberation to the audience as they can focus on the essence of the stories that could not be discovered while trapped inside stereotypes while also not limiting the audiences’ imagination. Seoul City Theater’s play Hamik, which interpreted Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ with the lead being a female character and Pride and Prejudice where 2 actors play various characters regardless of gender and age can be great examples of this.

The play Orphans, which recently opened in Daehakro, is a story about the orphan brothers Treat and Philip, and a middle aged Chicago gangster Harold. They cast a female actor for a character that has been reserved just for a male actor since the play’s debut in Broadway in 1983 and are doing super successful. Inspired by this casting that broke down the gender stereotype for the first time ever in the world, the original author Lyle Kessler announced that they would attempt gender free casting in Broadway as well.

Educational products that help you shape your taste

Baby products are also showing changes that overthrow gender bias.

We don’t live in a world where we give kitchen toys to girls and cars to boys anymore. In order not to instill fixed stereotypes to children whose ego is being developed, the strict and conservative educational field is also going through changes. Developed countries such as America and U.K. have eliminated the words ‘for boys’ and ‘for girls’ on toys, things the children first encounter, and are integrating all products for both genders.1

Educational products that help children to form their own taste are also being introduced. Until October 10th, Innocean Worldwide (hereafter “Innocean”) have sold children’s clothing that they created with premium baby/children brand Porgabe through a crowd funding platform Tumblebug. It wasn’t your average type of children’s clothing made in eco friendly material. But it was more like educational contents created as a gender equality educational campaign under the slogan ‘Pink Is Blue, Blue Is Pink.' The main product is a reversable jacket with one side pink and the other side blue. It was designed as a genderless look so that kids can choose a color they feel like wearing according to their mood.

Innocean aims for an open society where everyone’s originality is respected.

It was planned so that children between the ages of 3~5 would wear the clothes and develop a neutral way of thinking as this particular age group develops rational thinking and sympathy. Clothing also comes with various shaped patches for dolls, cars, animals, fruit, etc., regardless of the child’s gender which can be attached and detached according to one’s taste. This collection of children’s clothing was also introduced in the international design fair; ‘London Design Festival’ in September. Starting with this collaboration, Innocean will continue their gender equality awareness campaign.

So far, we have looked into cases of genderless that is being discussed ardently in areas including fashion, beauty, culture, and education. It was an opportunity for us to reflect upon things that we unconsciously regarded as ‘natural’. If these questionings slowly change the world, won’t our children be able to live in a freer world and take life with a more flexible heart? We anticipate a society with broader boundaries that encompasses all gender, nationality, race, and age, so that all 6 billion of us can be ourselves just as we are and not just as a man or a woman, in the future.