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Styled Out: A boy in girls’ clothing

I’m Emily Hartl, the new style blogger for AfterEllen.com. Styled Out will be a weekly blog (running on Wednesdays after this week’s initial post) all about fashion. Its aim is to be different than other fashion coverage though, as it’ll be exceptionally less straight! About me: I’m a salon executive and fashion show producer, as well as a personal stylist. In a past life, I wrote a fashion column for an online lesbian magazine and I’m excited to be back at it on AfterEllen.com. Please do utilize the comments section to let me know what you want to see about style. We gay girls are an untapped resource when it comes to fashion, so shouts from the peanut gallery are always encouraged.

While flipping through Lucky last weekend, I paused subconsciously (per usual) on the latest Marc Jacobs ad. God, I have such a platonic love for him it’s ridiculous — he’s always smoking cigarettes and looking so fabulous. Something about the blasé set dressing of shoots and clothing always triggers some sort of inner pause button deep within, just the dazzling simplicity of everything he produces. Sally Singer of Vogue has called him a “genius of American sportswear.”

But guess what he’s doing this season? He’s using a male model (Cole Mohr specifically) to market his Marc for Marc Jacobs fall line — both his men’s and his women’s lines.

Jacobs himself had modeled in lady apparel for a spread in Interview a couple of months ago and I’m glad to see he took the concept and ran with it.

Here’s the thing: By daring to be so delectably subtle Marc has managed to reign yet again. I mean, go MJ. In all seriousness, it’s about time someone bent gender in the opposite direction of the societal norm in this kind of way. Typically it’s some tailored suit fit to a Ford Model (tweed for she, if you will). Sexism and gender stereotypes are unfortunately still dominating American advertisements even in the most “liberal” of industries, and Jacobs has chosen to blaze the trail by loosening gender’s girdle.

He isn’t using men for his runway, however, which is probably wise. In my opinion — though lovely — a lot of them never quite master the saunter of a lady born with curves. Captured through a lens, it’s amazing but I can speak from experience in casting fashion shows. I haven’t cast certain girls for shows due to their inability to bitch out their walk properly.

Androgynous imagery yet dripping with femininity, all the while holding up his reputation for having impeccable taste and fashion foresight. I nearly choked I was so happy.

I wonder if he dreamt up the initial framework himself. Maybe his own photo shoot was a subliminal focus group for his peers? It’s quite trendy to be bold in the fashion industry and I feel like he accomplished this with such delicacy and was surprising without being offensive — not to mention he shed an entirely new light on transsexuals.

This is the best press they’ve gotten in ages. I mean, couture? Silence of the Lambs did nothing in this department; skin jumpsuits just never really caught on. Felicity Huffman as Bree was no fashionista either. Let’s be real here.

These ads will probably be in every major fashion publication in September. As you may or may not know, the fashion industry has their runway seasons ass backwards, but the photography in fall fashion issues generally matches the impending weather.

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