Ilene Hacker

Alice ’71 in Wonderland

Alice ’71 in Wonderland

Monosex Couture and Gender Fluidity in the 1970s

Two years after the Paris 1968 student riots, Parisian couturier Jacques Esterel launched a timely couture collection for men and women that responded to the shifting gender ideals of the time. Resplendent with matching hisĀ­ andĀ­ hers outfits and unisexwear, Esterel’s looks seemed to reflect a breakdown of the fashion system and the gender issues that were a result of the zeitgeist; an exemplar that periods of crisis are not only foreshadowed by, but also directly result in, changes in systems of dress.

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