Articles tagged with "Gender Free Fashion"

It's always great to see brands emerging with open minded attitudes towards clothing and gender. AFT-R Barcelona is a relatively new shoe brand who are now embracing genderless heels. It's a bold move for a relatively young brand, though their styles will certainly appeal to a large audience regardless of gender. With sizes from EU36 to EU44, there's clearly still some caution about the market for men with the absence of sizes above EU44, though it's still a welcome start and keeps the conversation going about heels for men.

From the article:

"AFT-R BARCELONA, a genderless shoe brand created in Barcelona in 2019 by Eric Turró and Alejandra Conesa, has always been known for advocating inclusion and diversity through footwear. Coinciding with its third anniversary, the project expands its family of products by adding the genderless high-heeled boot to its offer."

Original URL: https://fuckingyoung.es/aft-r-barcelona-launches-solemates-its-new-line-of-genderless-heeled-boots/

Posted: 12 January 2023


Absolutely not... but of course you absolutely can if you want to!

That goes for all different types of shoes too. Flats, stilettos, Cuban heels, kitten heels, wedges, block heels and the rest. What matters is not what else you wear with them but that you feel happy and confident wearing them. Putting on a pair of heels does not make you a crossdresser (a term often used predominantly for men, though rarely applied to women) and many regular guys of all sexual orientations have worn heels throughout history. Many celebrities have recently brought about a renaissance for men wearing heels, skirts, dresses, leggings or make-up, though you don't have to be a celebrity to still have fun with what you wear.

The same really goes for other things you'd not normally considered as men's fashion. You don't have to wear heels if you wear a skirt or dress. You don't have to wear a skirt, dress or heels if you wear make-up.

Have fun and experiment with your style. Be bold but consciously pick items that you would definitely wear repeatedly, with confidence outside your home. If you're un-sure, buy pre-loved items as if you change your mind after wearing them you can always sell them on again for around the same value as what you paid for them, and it's also more environmentally sustainable.

What have you worn (in public) recently that you would not normally consider to be menswear? What was your experience? Head to our Instagram page to post your comments.

Original URL:

Posted: 3 November 2022


As a man in heels, how do you talk about your heels to other people in public?

As you're no doubt aware, whenever you step out in public in a pair of heels there can be an annoying voice inside your head reminding you of all the potential judgement that you may encounter while you are out. It can sometimes feel like a constant stream of "what if?" questions. Not everyone gets this new trend quite like you do, so what can you do?

In reality, during the daytime, most people are so wrapped in doing what they’re out to get done, but during the evening people often have a little more time on their hands and are often more observant about the people around them.

It can help to be prepared for interactions with other people and a possible conversation about your heels. Most of the time, these conversations will be positive but if you are unfortunate enough to encounter someone who is less open-minded it can help to be prepared to have a conversation about your heels. We’ve prepared a simple 5 point strategy to help…

  • Firstly, do your History homework. History has clearly documented the many times that men have worn heels, from 10th Century Persian Cavalrymen to King Louis XIV to David Bowie, Prince and now you, me, Harry Styles, Lenny Kravitz and Billy Porter and the other thousands of men around the world.

  • Next is Education. You know that you and MANY other men are wearing heels, but the person you are talking to make be either completely ignorant of current fashion trends or might need reminding of times when it was more common than now. It’s up to you to educate them on it. Show them the hundreds of posts on the Articles page from Men’s Heels Revolution. Tell them where you got your heels from, show them the website and any marketing of men in heels that you can.

  • Next is Empathise. Really, deep down they’d probably love to accept men wearing heels, and love themselves more in the process, but while they are complying with social norms, they will feel compelled to maintain the status quo. It can help to let them know you originally felt the same way as them, but then your mind was opened when you saw so many other men in heels and the acceptance that was given by the majority of people.

  • Next is Leadership. You’re bringing it back and you’re at the front that also means you’re in the firing line. You need to keep your head, keep calm, be positive and firm about your courage and convictions. What you do out there shapes the future for all men in heels (and other gender non-conformity) so the image you present to the world is important. Leadership is also knowing which battles to fight and to know when you’re not going to win. It’s ok to agree to disagree and walk away.

  • Finally, Style. Do whatever you do with style. With men’s heels easily available in many different styles from established retailers like Alessandro Vasini, Asos, Christian Louboutin, Cross Sword Fashion, Daniela Uribe, Feraggio, Harry Halim, Jimmy Choo, Lidia Talavera, Onlymaker Heels For Men, Patricia Henriques, Steve Madden, Syro, Utilitarian Gender Neutral, Yves Saint Laurent and many more there’s something to suit everyone’s taste and budget (See our Retailer Directory for even more options). Become a style student, draw influences from what others are doing and experiment with your outfits, not everything will work, but that’s ok! Style starts from the shoes upwards and when you love shoes, that’s a great start.

So there you have it, our simple strategy to keep you fashion forward and standing tall. Can’t remember the 5 points? Maybe this will help…

H - History
E - Education
E - Empathise
L - Leadership
S - Style

Posted: 10 October 2022


Women Working magazine website brings us another report on Mark Bryan (@MarkBryan911), the 61 year old American Robotics Engineer who is legendary for rocking high heels on Instagram. With over 660,000 followers, he conveys a firm sense of his own style for high heels, and certainly provides an inspirational fashion and style narrative which includes the mantra that "Clothes and shoes should not dictate a persons sexual orientation or gender".

Mark comments about how he feels he appears to other people - "You look up and see this person, your mind tells you it’s a person with green hair, you think to yourself, ‘That’s odd or interesting,’ then you go back to do what you were doing and don’t give it another thought"

To Mark, a man in heels and a skirt is normal, and we can all take some inspiration from him. If he can do it, we can all do it!

Original URL: https://her.womenworking.com/straight-married-dad-of-three-wears-skirts-to-prove-clothes-have-no-gender-helps-raise-money

Posted: 30 August 2022


This article from Medium suggests that maybe it's time to enable people to not feel limited in their fashion expression to the clothing sections that match the gender they were assigned at birth. It's a thought provoking read and certainly offers a step in the right direction.

Original URL: https://medium.com/gender-from-the-trenches/the-gender-binary-of-fashion-1a9d174e4a84

Posted: 10 May 2022