No. 7 (2026): The Languages of Fashion. Critical Reflections on Fashion Discourses
Fashion Lexigraphy

From Androgynous to Gender-Fluid Fashion

Judith Beyer
AMD Akademie Mode & Design

Published 30-06-2026

Keywords

  • non-binary identities,
  • Gender performativity,
  • unisex fashion,
  • post-postmodern,
  • queer style

How to Cite

Beyer, J. (2026). From Androgynous to Gender-Fluid Fashion . Fashion Highlight, (7), 244–249. https://doi.org/10.36253/fh-3907

Abstract

This Fashion Lexigraphy traces the historical development and shifting meanings of genderfluid, unisex, and androgynous fashion from antiquity to the present. Anchored in a critical etymological analysis of terms like androgyny, unisex, and gender fluidity, it explores how fashion has continually negotiated, subverted, and reimagined gender categories. From the myth of the androgynous to the garçonnes and flappers of the 1920s, the unisex movements of the 1960s and 1990s to the post-postmodern aesthetics of the 2010s, this lexigraphy examines the cultural, political, and aesthetic forces that have shaped gender-bending styles. Rather than a passing trend, gender-fluid fashion emerges as a vital and visible form of resistance and self-articulation, reflecting broader societal movements toward inclusivity, complexity, and the dismantling of restrictive norms within both fashion and gender systems. 

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