Androgyny in Dress

Definition

With origins in Greek mythology, androgynous means both anthro (man) and gyne (woman). In the modern period, androgyny has come to refer to modes of gender expression combining feminine and masculine characteristics. In the nineteenth century, gender was produced and reinforced in social, political and family structures. Femininity was coded as domestic, innocent and passive, whereas masculinity was associated with the public sphere and coded as active, rational and virile. This gender binary was reinforced by nineteenth-century dress codes and fashions. Androgynous styles and practices of dressing, however, drew it into question. In nineteenth-century women’s writing, androgyny is represented as a disjunction between an individual’s biological sex and their gender presentation, or between their body and their dress. It also describes new modes of dressing which combined garments and style elements conventionally coded as feminine and masculine. In both forms, androgyny...