Selfridges Department Store Goes Gender Neutral

That's right you lovely OTers, you can now be androgynous like the rest of Europe!

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London's iconic Selfridges Oxford Street department store, known for revolutionizing fashion that left lasting impacts on British society, is set to stock its shelves with unisex clothing.

The high-end store is nixing its separate men and women's departments and will instead have three floors of unisex clothing, according to The Daily Mail. Some of the brands featured will include KTZ, Trapstar and Hood By Air.

Selfridges isn't stopping at clothing. The store will also say farewell to its current mannequins and revamp its beauty products and accessories.

"We want to take our customers on a journey where they can shop and dress without limitations or stereotypes," Selfridges told The Times Of London. "A space where clothing is no longer imbued with directive gender values, enabling fashion to exist as a purer expression of 'self.'''

Bravo, Selfridges!

Source

So basically, best case scenario the store is getting less convenient to navigate. Worst case scenario the clothing styles are now terrible. Well ok, I don't tend to shop in high end London stores anyway.

Sounds good to me. Buy whatever you want to buy without worrying if it's "for your gender" or not. If you can't find anything you like shop somewhere else *shrugs*

You can do that in any store though.

@Storm_Marine: True, but more than once I've gone to a store to pick up something my wife wanted (like a shirt) and had the ladies at the store approach me and say "I'm sorry sir, but those are women shirts, your section is over there", which I understand them wanting to make sure you don't take a "women's shirt" by mistake, and if I said "I want to wear it anyway" they would certainly not stop me, but still...I'm sure there are people who would like a more unisex look to their fashion and it's nice that there's a store that caters for them.

@korvus

Yes, but the sections exist for convenience though. If I enter a store I want to be able to find the clothes I want without getting lost in dresses or whatever.

If the entire store is completely revamping itself to be unisex, that's fine obviously but it's not exactly something to applaud over. Selling unisex clothes isn't morally superior to selling traditional styles, it's just a business trying to fill in a niche.

Did some quick skimming through Trapstar, Kokon to Zai, and Hood by Air's websites. Are they what's considered high end fashion in the UK these days?

Well, idiocy never stops it seems when it comes to the feminists and their struggle to rid the world of the natural genders.

But luckily there are plenty of shops in london and plenty of shops that have no problem in seeing that women and men dont have the same body form and therefore quite naturally need different fit clothes.

Saw Jacanuk had posted and I just HAD to click this thread. Wasn't disappointed.

Ah KTZ....for just 380.00 GBP you too can wear a net with a big zipper on the front.

http://www.kokontozai.co.uk/products/clothing/men/new-arrivals-men/big-zipper-sleeveless-net-hoodie-jacket-black/

I wonder how rich and pretentious you'd have to be in order to purchase such a creation?

I dunno, sounds interesting I guess... I just hope they at least have men and women sizes printed on all the tags. Or is different sizes between men and women just an American thing?

I can assure you, it's not.

Lot of that fashion is already able to transcend such paltry tidbits like gender.

I always thought men had it super easy when buying clothes. couple packs of t shirts, few packs of boxers and you guys are set for like six months! Women's clothes have all different lengths and sizes, its such a pain to shop.

Spot on :D add a couple of suits to that list and we are set.

Eh I'm perfectly happy with how clothes are now, but if people want to buy gender-neutral clothes that's their business.

Only thing that concerns me is the convenience aspect of it. How am I going to find what I want if I can't find the mens section?

And you're one of the few here I was betting would jump at the chance to finally pick up a few skirts.

I buy lingerie for my wife all of the time. Think about how confusing that would be if there wasn't a woman's section anymore.

If this means it will be easier to find proper fitting pants, then I'm all for it.

Hard to tell if a store like that would be my kind of store, might not be.

As several users have already stated, it might make finding the right clothes a real labyrinth.

Think I'd prefer still going to stores with female-only sections...

It's not that simple for me. It's a real paint finding clothes as a tall guy. I even got excited the other day when a walked past a whole rack of tall sized button ups... the sleeves were still too short.

Go nudist, problem solved.

There is noting wrong with male and female only sections, I would feel better in a men's only section as well. Just easier to find what you want in a size that fits you. People need to get over this stuff.

Well that's incredibly dumb.

"We want to take our customers on a journey where they can shop and dress without limitations or stereotypes," Selfridges told The Times Of London. "A space where clothing is no longer imbued with directive gender values, enabling fashion to exist as a purer expression of 'self.''

And that's just comical.

One last thing: if they're doing away with male and female mannequins, what are they going to replace them with? Poles? Maybe they'll display clothes in crucifix style.

What's next, mixing the health foods with the junk food because I don't want to be seen buying all dat cake?

Surely if you're buying clothes for the other gender you don't give a rats arse what people think or you're an extreme minority.

This is all started when we let women vote and let gays marry. It's like Alice in Wonderland around here.

Still don't want any handbags, make-up or jeggings thanks, don't care if you're calling them unisex now. I'm all for equality and what not but do we really need to evolve into some hermaphrodite species? Man up men of Europe!

If they can make a profit off that, then can't blame them. Also they probably don't serve that large a customer base anyway.

Convenience? Obviously you've never been to London.

So first you call all Europeans androgynous and now you're reinforcing stereotypes that all men buy their clothes in packs. You're going downhill woman!! =P

Sometimes I wish I did buy my clothes in packs...love going shopping with the wife but hate buying stuff for myself...I'm overly picky and have Goldilocks syndrome...sometimes I go to 6 or 7 stores to find that shirt that looks "just right". Although I have to admit that I love schedule an appointment with the store's fashion consultant and let him/her pamper me with tons and tons of clothing for me to try out.

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And guys, what's with this "If I wouldn't use it, it shouldn't exist" mentality? Just don't go there!

Women are from Venus men are from Mars. This kind of nonsense is going to bring the whole inter-solar community down on us.