Trend has Butch Fashion destroyed my wardrobe
Next month’s US Vogue will feature Ellen Page, an actor who explains why she came out in newsworthy butch fashion.
Page is not the first woman to find sartorial freedom as a gay woman after coming out. Although I knew I liked girls when I was four years old, I had to wait until I was 14 and 17 to tell my mom. She must have seen me when I began to cut my hair with a razor in the shower to look like Shane from The L Word. She asked, “Don’t boys want to like you?” Now, I am wondering, like Page. How many women, straight or not, would be able to live without ever having to think about what a man thinks of their clothes?
Since I came out, and excluding the time spent at university in mid-noughties cut-off jeans skirts, I have stayed to clothes that a normal bloke would wear without being questioned. Butch fashion chic to me is printed shirts and skirts that don’t have frills, or lace. It can also include any other items that may look nice, or very uncomfortable, depending on how you view it. Functionality is paramount. This includes elements from queer-friendly subcultures like punkishly torn vests and riot grrl boots as well as hip-hop’s baggy T shirts and grungey jumpers. It’s not just a uniform but a Freemason’s handshake. This is how we can tell the queer from straight. It’s not surprising that Ellen Page prefers a Saint Laurent outfit to a pretty gown.
Tilda Swinton, the ever-quirky Tilda, and the tabloid-friendly, youthful-appealing Cara Delevingne are just a few of the celebrities who have helped. Even Emma Stone, a straight woman, likes to add a touch of sophistication to her off-duty look. She dresses as a mix between Kristen Stewart or preppy Taylor Swift. Avigail Claire styles Jessie Ware as well as Lorde. She knows how to style a monochrome masculine cut on a feminine body.
Kristen Stewart does boyish chic in January
It’s a fascinating shift in fashion that takes you beyond sexuality. Lesbians and bisexuals don’t dress in sexy butch fashion because they want to be boys or to make other women look good. They don’t want to be like a male model of what is cute. Instead, they are more interested in what feels good to them and what they can imitate.