For the new ‘What to Wear’ for CityMag we put aside the performance that is gender and moved in an entirely new direction away from the ‘For the Man’ and ‘For the Woman’ phrasing and towards a gender non-binary outlook.
It was super important for me as someone who identifies as lgbt+ but not as non-binary to be informed on how the community presents themselves. I found that there is a very fine line in illustrating faces where gender is concerned- too much chin and angularity then they’re male, too much “softness” and compactness then they’re female. (See image 1) Throughout the entire process of creating these people I had to keep checking my own assumptions on how their gender was being read and if it aligned with how others saw them. Respectful and inclusive presentation of any sectors of the lgbt+ community still has a long way to go in mainstream media but hopefully this what to wear positively challenges someones assumptions :)
(Image 2 is the final product)