Androgyny in the 80s

History - 
Sexual ambiguity may be found in fashion, gender identity, sexual identity or sexual lifestyle, androgyny is the combination of feminine and masculine characteristics. It can also refer to biological intersex physicality especially with regards to plant and human sexuality. One of the first references to androgyny is featured in Plato's Symposium in a myth that Aristophanes tells the audience. Believed that people used to be spherical creatures with two bodies attached by the back that supposedly cartwheeled around. Men were with men and women with women although the last pairing represented an androgynous couple who tried to take over the gods and failed. As punishment Zeus decided to cut them in half and had Apollo stitch them back together leaving the navel as a reminder to not defy the Gods again.  This is one of the earlier written references to androgyny I could track as I find it interesting as to how androgyny first originated from.

Especially in the very early 60s, musicians such as the Beatles and The Rolling Stones started growing their hair long and progressing to full-fledged androgynous dress in life and on stage, whereas before it was the women who had the long hair this caused an uproar. Other iconic artists such as Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant fashioned perhaps the most enduring image of modern androgyny with wearing women's shirts, scarves, heeled boots and the way they carried themselves during interviews and so on. Robert Plant especially combined a somewhat effeminate physical appearance with a high pitched, flamboyant vocal range linking with a distinctly masculine sexuality. With these inspirational artists leading these new unseen trends, this is what made their fans think it was acceptable to start pushing the boundaries of what was socially acceptable and to copy what their icons were doing/wearing.

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As the years went by, androgynous fashion developed and blossomed to the 1980s! For most people as well as myself, when I first think of androgyny I instantly think of the 80s. As this was the decade of Grace Jones, Annie Lennox, Prince and many other influential, this was the start of a fashion revolution. For me, this photo of Grace Jones is one of my favourite and inspiring pictures in regards to what I want to achieve for my dissertation practice and in the future. How the use of minimal makeup and a beautifully taken photo can have such a large impact and really create something so visually stunning by simply highlighting the signature features of the model. 

Iconic 80s androgynous looks

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