Borrowed from the boys

One of the most distinct trends for spring is the revival of menswear as women’s wear. Tomboy chic, as it is fondly called, can be seen throughout the runway with each designer’s variation of the boyfriend blazer, wide-leg trouser, peg-leg pant, power suit and stiff white shirt.

A fashion mindset that has been a recurring theme for the past 80 years ever since the emergence of masculine glamour icons such as Katharine Hepburn and Marlene Dietrich, this season’s reinvention has a lot of people wondering: is it a re-emergence of a new kind sexual revolution?

Manstyle dressing for women is often tied to issues about sexuality, gender and equality. When Yves Saint Laurent introduced the Le Smoking Suit in the 1966, many were enraged in an era that brought about the baby boom and the idealization of the June Cleavers of this world.

But as the sexual revolution of the latter half of the 20th century raged on, social shifts were realized as power suits became more than just a passing trend. It has given women a visual illusion of strength equal to a male colleague and empowered women beyond traditional gender roles. But is this kind of feminism still significant in the era of Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin?

According to the US Bureau of Labor in Nov. 2008, the recent financial turmoil has seen a shift in the number of women-supported families in the US, with 49 percent of families now having a female breadwinner in the household. More of a consequence of the ax falling onto most male-dominated industries such as finance and construction, the whole idea of who wears the pants around here bears an almost literal meaning in this recession.

But beneath all the girl power and cracking-the-glass-ceiling talk, there may be just a shallow reason for wanting to dress up like a man. My own fondness for this style is really more about comfort than raising gender-equality issues in today’s society. Men’s clothes are built with fun and durability in mind. I love boyfriend khaki trousers from the Gap and button down shirts from Brooks Brothers. I adore the Annie Hall aesthetic of Rag & Bone and BOY by Band of Outsiders — both labels make menswear-inspired clothes for women. 

My favorite looks from the season’s ode to masculine glamour revolves around the return of the proverbial power suit shown with fedoras at Gucci, vests and lightly padded shoulders at Gaultier, sharp and fitted blazers at Balmain and my favorite: pinstripes at Bottega Veneta.

On a more playful note, there’s the peg-leg trouser and pork-pie hat inspired by French “It” girl Lou Doillon’s Artful Dodger style, as well as Patti Smith’s androgynous white button-down shirt paired with skinny men’s trousers.

The luxury to wear menswear along with the ultra-feminine ruffles and florals of past seasons gives us women more reason to proclaim that girls really do have more fun.