More Runways Are Going Co-Ed & We’re So Here For It

The Business of Fashion released a report Monday on changes to the fashion calendar, and there's a common thread throughout them: More and more brands are combining their women's and men's shows. Dsquared2 is only holding mixed-gender shows starting next year. Club Monaco showed its men’s and women’s collections together during New York Fashion Week. Vivienne Westwood is turning its womenswear and menswear lines into one collection for London Fashion Week in January. Public School has combined its men's and women's collections. Perhaps most notably, the designer brands Gucci and Burberry are transitioning to mixed-gender shows. "It seems only natural to me to present my men's and women's collections together. It's the way I see the world today," Gucci's creative director Alessandro Michele told The Business of Fashion in a statement. Runways have long been places where people stretch the confines of gender norms. A number of fashion shows and campaigns already feature androgynous clothing and models, so this seems like a natural next step. There is, after all, no good reason why certain clothes are worn by women and certain ones are worn by men — or why designers for the most part assume everyone will identify as a woman or a man. Hopefully, as brands do away with the distinction between men's and women's shows, the distinction between men's and women's clothing will also erode. Maybe one day, single-gender shows will be the outliers.