Sex and Unisex: Fashion, Feminism, and the Sexual Revolution

With interest, energy, and a tinge of nostalgia, Paoletti (Pink and Blue) explores the unsettling of gender roles and identity in the late 1960s and %E2%80%9970s caused by the sexual revolution and the fight for equal rights through the popular but short-lived trend in unisex clothing for men, women, and kids. Reading changing fashions as evidence of a %E2%80%9Creal creative cultural pressure for new directions,%E2%80%9D Paoletti%E2%80%99s wide-ranging historical research discovers a paradox in the fad for unisex, the style of which was %E2%80%9Cintentionally designed to blur or cross gender lines%E2%80%9D but resulted in %E2%80%9Cuniformity with a masculine tilt,%E2%80%9D and its brief flirtation with androgyny led to a %E2%80%9Cstylistic whiplash%E2%80%9D of more obviously gendered clothing for women and children. Paoletti argues that trends like his %E2%80%99n%E2%80%99 hers styles, the peacock revolution for men, and gender-neutral infant and toddler wear explored but failed to resolve questions about gender, sex, and sexuality, leaving %E2%80%9Cunfinished business%E2%80%9D that continues to play out in our present-day culture wars. Paoletti ultimately has more fun analyzing gender stereotypes than dealing with the complicated currents of fashion. She keeps an engaging voice throughout by throwing in personal references but she fails to come to a satisfying conclusion about why the unisex trend gave way to other styles. (Mar.)