Fashion Brands Build Costumes For Men And Women

Kevin Roberts (Karen Roberts) is

HauteButch founder.

Before that, she began to immerse herself in the anxiety of her appearance every morning from wearing clothes in the morning: because of her limitations, she often rolled up the sleeves of the larger size jacket, or adjusted her shirt's short shoulder part.

Before HauteButch was founded in 2012, Kay Wen had been buying clothes in men's clothing department, because only then could she find neutral clothing that fully embodied her "masculinity".

But these clothes, after all, are built with men's body structure and proportion, and are certainly not suitable for Kay Wen.

"I was a full time real estate broker, mainly for some investors.

Because of the need for work, I must wear formal clothes, especially uncomfortable, "she recalls.

"At that time, I searched the Internet and found that many people had similar problems with me - no brands were making clothes for women who like men's wear."

So in the past two years, she has been engaged in the private clothing custom industry, and designed for the customers who do not like the lace ruffle or the graceful skirt.

The company that she wants to cater to is mainly T (the lesbian male biased party) or the obscure woman, or the psexuals.

After the recent success of Kickstarter's crowd raising campaign, Kai Wen hopes to continue to use this fuzzy gender line to attract more potential customers to HauteButch.

"Some people feel that their sense of being is very weak or unimportant, especially in our group," she told me.

"By creating a bold new brand like HauteButch, I believe I can help my customers to re recognize themselves and position themselves."

Lilian Fadman (Lillian Faderman) is a scholar who specializes in the history of lesbian history. She herself declared her closet as early as 1956.

According to her, the word "butch" (that is, the word "T" or "male female") was first used to describe a little boy, and then used for lesbians. It wasn't until last 50s that it became a term used to describe the style of dress.

"In the early twentieth Century, when women began to work, they usually wore patterns that imitating men's clothing.

By the second half of twentieth Century, some of the middle class women who saw themselves as "butch" were beginning to wear some clothes that could obscure their gender when they went out to work, and the working class was more convenient.

It was a very masculine design.

Women who walk in neutral wind usually wear khakis or casual pants, and a button shirt is outside, with a T-shirt inside, usually wearing happy shoes at the foot.

After talking about about a week with Kai Wen, I met Daniel Friedman (Daniel Friedman) again.

He is the founder of Bindle and Keep, a shop specializing in custom tailored suits in New York, Broolyn. But it has been preparing for pformation in recent years, and has begun to tackle the market of neuter women and psexuals.

It was not until 2011 that Daniel suddenly realized that the market had been ignored.

His friend Rachel Tutera (Rachel Tutera) was a feminist. It was she who suggested that Daniel should start producing tailored suits for women or psexuals, as well as keeping the original male style.

So Daniel began to contact this group of psexuals, lesbians, boys and bisexuals, and now 85% of his clients are made up of LGBTQ.

"This group is facing great difficulties in clothing," he said.

If we can solve this problem, they will be able to devote more energy to other aspects of life.

And really, this is not what life needs to spend a lot of energy to solve.

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Bindle and Keep's model

Although Daniel admits that he did not really know anyone in this group before Rachel, he also stressed that with the gradual contact through work, the new job also gave him a new meaning in life.

I sat opposite him, looking at him using his fingers across the screen of his cell phone.

Everyone has a story behind him.

A few months ago, I made a suit for a woman about 55 years old.

When I put on that dress for her, I found that she looked great, "Daniel said.

"But when I asked her if there was anything inappropriate or needed modification, she suddenly froze, and let us all go out and leave her alone.

About two weeks later, a courier sent a bottle of whisky to my house, accompanied by a letter (written by the woman's mother). It read: "I never saw my daughter so beautiful, and she finally found her own identity and beauty.

I was so happy that I could not wait until this moment in my lifetime.

The lady at that time let us go out, just want to quietly taste this moment belongs to her.

HauteButch and Bindle and Keep have gained a lot of positive reviews. The latter has also attracted the attention of Lena Duham, Lena (Lena Dunham), who has created a documentary about the tailor, called "three suits" (Three Suits).

Before that, many other attempts involved this style.

At last, all of them came to their knees, but now, with the help of the Internet chips and customers, these small independent brands have gradually seen the dawn of the international retail industry.

"What we are talking about now is no longer women, men, women or men. We are involved in the LGBTQ group.

This is a very large mixed group, which is very complicated.

I think we should really face these diversities, and the mainstream fashion community should face up to this possibility, "said Lili, when he talked to me.

"In essence, doing so is equivalent to further acknowledging the existence of this particular group.

The market formed by this group is always there, but it needs more attention from brands. "

A model of Bindle and Keep

Last month, dapperQ, a website for lesbians and psexuals, held the third (and largest) fashion show in New York, the theme of which is "different from traditional male costumes".

This event shows some brands of positioning neutral wind, such as Angie Chuang and Sir New York. At the same time, Goorin Bros. and Jag & Co. did not specifically cater to the brand of LGBTQ group, and also showed their possibility in related styles.

As society gradually began to recognize the existence of LGBTQ, Daniel and Kai Wen hoped that one day in the future, men's dresses and women's clothing could be gradually blurred, so that each independent individual could find clothes that were truly suited to their personal style.

"There are so many manufacturers and brands in the traditional men's and women's clothing market, and there are bound to be those who are willing to cross and break this border," explains Daniel.

"What we are talking about here is not a fierce gender or sexual contradiction, nor is it advocating all kinds of doctrines." we simply feel that clothing should be expressed as a person's real self.