Womenswear vs Menswear - Topic of the day 12/22/24
What are the pros and cons of womenswear vs menswear? Which section do you shop more in? What parts of either section do you wish were more prevalent in the other section?
84 Replies
Fake distinction buy shit that looks cool
This is a divide that shouldn’t actually exist imo. Clothing is clothing and should be made as such. Every item of clothing can be unisex and it quite honestly doesn’t make a ton of sense to have the divide (often physically, in the case of brick and mortar stores).
Also if any of you say any dumb shit I’m coming to your house
As you should
I think practically the biggest practical difference that shouldn’t exist but does is finding womenswear line pieces in larger sizes, also some brands is pretty clear they put more effort into one line or the other.
A good time to try out the ghillie suit fit
pockets
dumb shit
i think i just wish i felt more confident wearing womenswear
comfortable maybe the better word
well i think its just kind of a sensory thing tbh
Jk I get u iral theres lots of cool pieces I see on both sides of men’s and women’s wear that I think I would feel uncomfortable wearing even tho I like
im saying this as the cis-iest cis man but i do think there can be a distinction maybe between perceptible masc or femme styles but not necessarily a sex or gender thing? and maybe like oman said something to be said about size?
but most of it is societal and made up
if not all
That’s the thing, any divide is perceived and seen through the lens of the culture and it doesn’t need to be like that at all
i dont get what you mean
not trolling, i think im just an idiot
There could be universal sizing for basically everything
Imagine how easy shopping would be
I wear almost exclusively masc styles, although I take inspiration from women’s outfits
i think just as far as gender expression vs gender identity i guess? like someone who identifies as male but presents their gender in a more traditionally "feminine" way
ah gotcha
but again i think it all ladders back to things being kinda arbitrarily assigned
also like i said, cis-iest cis man not qualified to actually talk about this, just flu-ridden and spitballing here
As someone who wears men’s and women’s clothing the cuts are different. Men’s tops usually aren’t cut for larger hips and shirts also have more room in the shoulders has been my experience
The “smaller top with wide pants” is a silhouette that I recreate. I’m used to seeing on fems primarily
I shop more in menswear because a lot of womenswear I like just doesn't fit straight up unfortunately
this is also sort of what i meant, it's a shorthand sometimes for shapes and silhouettes
I usually give a glance over "womens" sections of store to see if there is something interesting. Its pretty normal to find more variation there. Sometimes the cuts end up not being what I'm looking for but its def. worth the look just in case
cant let silly words tell u how to live your life
i thrift however mostly in the womens section
theres an aspect for me at least thats like
things being too small/not cut for my body (barrel chested twink) vs not being comfortable with wearing things made in certain cuts
i do wish that more brands would adopt a unisex sizing system.
Sometimes the cuts are different sure, but plenty of menswear items are in cuts that don't fit me well either so like anything you just gotta check measurements
More pants should be sized in terms of waist and inseam
I feel like the areas of this topic covered are the most boring deadest horse.
Seeing a shirt you like and avoiding it bc it’s tagged women’s is obviously silly but there’s a lot of different cultural signaling based on styling and men’s and women’s collections at all levels of fashion tend to be different. And I find the differences there in terms of trends and ideas and borrow between the two to be far more interesting.
Women’s wear tends to have more adornments and such but even in very mainstream styles that’s been changing in the men’s sections as well. Lace, crochet, and embroidery has become far more popular and is the mainstay of the mens section of tons of brands like Abercrombie.
:nooooo: noo i love arbitrary letters and numbers that don’t actually match any of the measurements of what im buying
I think this heavily contrasts with the preferences in the wake of the 08 financial crisis which was about minimalism, practicality and longevity more than anything else
booooooring wake me up when they invent themswear
so true
Idk I just find women’s wear to be genuinely interesting. Far beyond “stop being a bitch about” tweet and reductionisms like “oh it’s just culture”.
If you don’t have the maturity to discuss or wear an item from the women’s section I don’t care this conversation isn’t about you. It’s just a shirt, go to therapy or something idk
I suppose the only thing of relevance in that distinction - at least to me - is convenience. If I buy mens clothing I assume it’s designed for someone with roughly my physicality whereas with something that’s distinctly labeled as women’s clothing I might have to check the measurements more closely.
Overall for a bunch of items it makes no sense to have a separate mens and women’s version. For some the cuts are different - rooted in some design traditions, but that might as well be a pick and choose situation regardless of if they’re menswear or womenswear.
the only practical difference i've encountered is women's pants have shallow or nonexistent pockets which i find fucked up
That’s big pants being in kahoots with big bag
there can sometimes be construction related issues (e.g. womens shirts or jackets having more shoulder padding) but that can easily be circumvented
Yeah there’s a few practical differences in cut and drafting most of the time(pocket size/ usage, wider hips, narrower shoulders, etc) to refine on my earlier comment but those are what they are
actually infuriating but ya as holf said it's a big bag conspiracy
otherwise who cares? not your credit card company, not ben franklin, not the person or business selling and not the garments themselves, assuming you aren't destroying them in the process of wearing them
That’s pretty much what I mean by “clothes designed for roughly my physicality”, it’s just a matter of actually looking at the garment you want to put on and it’ll be fine.
and those things aren't gendered in practice - men can be barrel chested, but can some women, for instance
All of it is solved by trying it on anyway. There are trends of differences but they aren’t actually gendered and mfad could just as easily have discourse about pocket sizes every other day but we are blessed to not have to deal with that
I think theres more of a difference than people are acting like in this thread, but not in anyway that matters
Our sacrifice for having good pockets is less cute bag discourse tho which is sad
you can wear anything obviously, but certain things are naturally gonna be cut for specific things and generally different beauty standards will also affect the cut (very obvious in suit cuts), obv some clothes are "womens" and don't have real equivalents (most dresses) and dresses espicially can be cut in a much more challenging way to wear
now gender is a social construct so it isn't actually gendered
but theres absolutely lots of clothes that make more of a statement or can have drastically different cuts because of gender expectations, theres a cleaner term for that but i think people get the message
also at like a box store, it super doesn't matter
like uniqlo or some shit, 99% of "womens" shit is gonna be close enough to "mens"
and theres a tradition of men going to the womens section to hop on newer trends - when skinny jeans first became big, recently a lot of cropped stuff has been way easier to find in the womens section.
vice versa for workwear and women too
sometimes trends are stupidly gendered so you gotta shop where you can get it
What are some women’s collections that people like or trends you noticed first in womenswear?
whale tails
Gonna need a ler whale tail fit right tf now
Pants got wider in womenswear first
I think
The Lemaire men’s and women’s collections are almost identical except for the volume pants for some reason and they go so hard :nooooo:
Any of my inspo posts ever
I love those btw
i'll let adapt field the latest ysl womenswear collection but calcaterra is a really cool brand- there's an exaggeration of tropes common to trad menswear (pleated pants, exaggerated shoulders) even though is it more womenswear-coded
ex https://www.lanecrawford.com/product/calcaterra/oversized-double-layer-cotton-poplin-shirt/_/EIX207/product.lc https://www.lanecrawford.com/product/calcaterra/cropped-striped-batwing-sleeve-shirt/_/EIX198/product.lc
Lane Crawford
CALCATERRA | Oversized Double Layer Cotton Poplin Shirt | Women | L...
Calcaterra transforms the classic white shirt into a statement piece with this double-layered, oversized design. Featuring a unique layered collar and voluminous sleeves, it pairs effortlessly with ta...
Lane Crawford
CALCATERRA | Cropped Striped Batwing Sleeve Shirt | Women | Lane Cr...
The Calcaterra shirt redefines classic tailoring with its crisp, white pinstriped pattern and structured collar. Its streamlined, loose fit makes it a versatile choice for both professional settings a...
A recentish Brycelands post that is still rattling around in my brain
Sometimes I am mildly inconvenienced for the moment I try to instinctually button the placket the wrong way by accident
Im trying to isolate the drafting difference from the fact that if I change the m on the tag to a w it doesn’t change anything about the garment and that it’s still okay to put on of course clothes get drafted differently if they’re being designed as womenswear but that doesn’t 1 to 1 correlate with gender (for instance, a lot of boxier women’s stuff sits on my shoulders better than mens equivalent sizing)
❤️
I also have this post saved, but it doesn’t really feel like womenswear to me aside from the boots
This is a pretty common trap where it’s just someone who’s more femme wearing masc clothing. Obviously there are a lot of ways to go about it but this one is really common for the spaces I’m in for clothes lol
not really, there's some subversion going on I think mainly the boots and jewellery but it would definitely be more menswear
I made a point in the in thread inspo post to pull from exclusively womenswear collections some of which are more femme and some are pretty masc
i was just in H&M an hour ago with my niece trying to find matching ugly sweaters. wild how fuckin bland even high street menswear is. drab everything and everything in fast fashion tryign to look like evan kinori in this shop. womens stuff was nuts and fun and varied
All of them were drafted as womenswear regardless of where they fall as far as being femme/masc (or the gender of the person that’s wearing them)
Yeah not a call-out sorry. More just curious if you saw anything themes that I didn’t. I love the fit tho. I do think the hair and glasses add a lot and that’s a bit outside what Brycelands specifically does most of the time
no you're good, I think the same things as you are the standouts for me. I think it's good to have that pointed out tbh because while I view it as subversive, I could copy it and it would just be guy wearing westernwear if that makes sense
It also depends on the brand! That’s a bigger step imo for a brand like Brycelands than one that’s more varied in style and gender performance (technically they have a women’s line now iirc actually but it’s minimal)
Ah it’s just a collection
https://www.brycelandsco.com/collections/emmeline
Bryceland's HK
Emmeline Label
Bryceland's Co. is an expression of a desire to bring elegance and masculinity to the world of men's clothing, from tailored attire to the uniforms of work and play.
Classic Tailoring | American Workwear | Leisure wear | Tokyo | Hong Kong
Honestly, my main issue is sizing. Lots of womenswear stuff just does not exist in my size.
One day I will have to go hunting for a cool denim/chambray skirt
womens clearance always has more stuff therefore i look at both
money got longer, pants got wider, car got faster
I really liked the no man walks alone Chinatown campaign. my gf and I trade clothes sometimes and seeing inspo like that always makes us think to try stuff from each other’s closets that we might not gravitate to normally.
https://nomanwalksalone.com/blogs/look-books/fall-winter-24-editorial-chinatown?srsltid=AfmBOop_HLOuNgK8zsW5UC5lKHfJhkL3cdVXCcUE0-NVngN4KEhh3lWl
No Man Walks Alone
Fall Winter '24 Editorial -- Chinatown
Model: Steff (@steffvt @vyvoistudio) Photography: Angela DiMarzio Styling: Willy Cheesesteak (@willy.cheesesteak) Assistant: Kenshawn Anderson (@natty_lion) Look 1 Monitaly Chamula hand-knit Fair Isle zipper cardigan in Ivory woolGRP Rollneck sweater in panna ecru superfine merino woolMonitaly Extended 1 inch Western
In a broader sense I think the distinction between menswear and womenswear is purely marketing m and the only times I find myself functionally unable to wear something from the womenswear section is usually related to pants pockets
Yeah I feel like women’s selection is so much broader
It’s very boring shopping with my husband when he needs new clothes because the colors and cuts are so limited vs womenswear
Men's sizing can be frustrating. Women's sizing seems incomprehensibly infuriating. That's about all I have to add on the topic.
I think it’s interesting to unpack why it’s more “visually/subconciously” acceptable for women to wear menswear than the other way around. There’s definitely a toxic masculinity lens you can look at it from, but I sometimes wonder if there’s also not an aesthetic lens?
:skillissue: imo
to quote madonna, who sanpled this 20 years ago:
"girls can wear jeans and cut their hair short, wear shirts and boots. /
'cause it's OK to be a boy. /
but for a boy to look like a girl is degrading. /
'cause you think that being a girl is degrading."
i wear women's t-shirts. They're shorter and hug my arms more with shorter sleeves
they have the vintage greaser look that I'm seeking