GENDER BENDERS It's a man's world in women's fashion

Menswear looks get tweaked for a feminine fit.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK -- Menswear is a major trend this season, with man-tailored pinstripe trousers and even fedoras paired with stiletto heels and red lipstick for an intriguing masculine-feminine tug-of-war.
Dolce & amp; Gabbana, Prada and Ralph Lauren featured gender-bending looks in their collections, along with dresses and skirts that give a nod to menswear by using fabrics like tweed and jersey.
But 100 years ago, almost everything women wear today was once solely the domain of men: button-down shirts, trench coats, peacoats, blazers and, of course, pants.
They weren't wearing pants yet, but women did wear neckties in the first two decades of the 20th century, says Timothy Gunn, chairman of the fashion design department at Parsons School of Design. Women paid sly homage to menswear by pairing neckties with the laced-up, starched, fussy fashions of the time.
Chanel influence
With the emergence of French designer Coco Chanel in the 1920s, menswear's influence exploded in women's fashion, Gunn says.
"She really mixed up the vocabulary for women's fashion," Gunn says.
Chanel's innovations included the little black dress and slingback pumps, but more often than not she appropriated menswear to create such classics as the trench coat, the blazer and bell bottom trousers. Gunn also cites Chanel's use of jersey, which had been a material used for men's undergarments, in her dresses and suits to create a more tailored, streamlined silhouette.
"She just made it modern and sexy, and at the same time it had a kind of casualness. It was a definite menswear homage," Gunn says. "It was also driven by her radicalism because she was nothing if not a nonconformist."
Pants were not acceptable for women until much later, despite the popularity of Chanel's designs, but Hollywood's influence helped chip away at resistance.
"I think films in general, particularly in the '30s and '40s, helped popularize it," Gunn says, citing Katharine Hepburn, Marlene Dietrich and Joan Crawford as stars who made menswear sexy for women.
In the 1940s, American designer Claire McCardell took the menswear-inspired looks to design sportswear, a new category of clothing. Bill Blass later built on this innovation to help define American style, starting with a pinstriped, wide-leg "gangster" suit for women.
"Suits were the hallmark of his success. We still do them here religiously," says Michael Vollbracht, creative director for Bill Blass. Blass died in 2002 at age 79.
Pulling it off
The key to pulling off a menswear-inspired look is the fit, Vollbracht says. Tailoring that flatters the female form plays up the masculine-feminine contrast.
"The most flattering for any woman is to cover the derriere in a men's tailored suit," Vollbracht says.
For a classic look, Vollbracht suggests going with higher-waisted pants than have been popular for the past several seasons.
"I think that low-rise belly button thing has had its day," he says.
The Bill Blass collection features high-waisted gray flannel pants inspired by Hepburn's look in the 1940s. Another classic look is "le smoking," the androgynous smoking suit created by Yves Saint Laurent in 1966, and which remained a part of his namesake line, even under the direction of Tom Ford.
Whichever suit you choose, Vollbracht says it's important to add feminine touches like high heels, a plunging neckline or a soft cashmere sweater. He also offers the following tips for women when putting together a menswear-inspired look:
UTo change from day to night in a suit, unbutton a couple of buttons on your blouse. "You can look like you're going to a board meeting or you can later go to a discotheque or a nightclub," he says.
UMan-tailored pants should skim the floor.
UTailoring around the waist and hip are crucial, and you should make sure the arm holes are cut high to avoid a boxy look.
UA jacket with a double vent in the back, called the English fit, is less flattering because it broadens the hip.
UFor the best-fitting button-down blouse, go to a haberdashery. Quality shows with this garment, and it costs. "It should be a good expensive white shirt," Vollbracht says.