We’re all acquainted with spring/summer 2014’s ‘Europeancamper-sandals’ look, granted some of us (me) more than others. But fear not all you financially fretful fashionistas. For while Birkenstocks (the orthopaedic sandal developed in the 50s) were last summer’s must-have shoe, the good news is that you don’t have to pack those sandals away just yet. This winter calls for the doublestrapped Birkenstock Arizonas to be worn with socks.

Katherine Ormerod, Senior Fashion News Editor at Grazia says, “The Birkenstock look is a more affordable take on looks from Prada and Marni.” The socks are crucial. According to Ormerod, “The sock needs to be substantial. Something with a bit of a hiking vibe to it. Best get them in a grungy colour, a grey or an olive or a brown, and wear them a bit slouched down. The whole look needs to be outdoorsy. It can work for men as well as women too, as part of that whole urban woodsman look. You know: the beard, lumberjack shirt, rolled-up jeans, sandals and socks …”

There is absolutely no doubt that this trend will be both comfortable and warm (particularly as Birkenstock have released a new sheepskin-lined Arizona sandal!), but conventionally sexy it is not. So why the sudden penchant for socks and sandals? High street retailer Debenhams has recorded a 68 per cent rise in sales of socks and sandals while the purchases of bright short-sleeved shirts have rocketed by 72 per cent, completing the ‘sad-dad’ ensemble.

According to personal stylist Alain Mehada of Debenhams, this bizarre trend might simply be explained by comfort. “We didn’t see it coming, but perhaps we should have done as let’s be honest there are fewer things more comfy than a solid well-made sandal and a soft pair of socks to stop them rubbing on bare skin.” And regarding the shirts, who can resist a smile when someone saunters past in a garishly bright short-sleeved top? It brightens up the day and brings memories of holidays and beach-side fun, even if you are stuck at home this winter

This week, Paris Men’s Fashion Week drew to a close, but people are still talking about it, and about one show in particular: Rick Owens. Perhaps, though, you would know the brand better as Dick Owens, as it was affectionately nicknamed and then relentlessly shared after the show – ending up going viral online.

For anyone who has somehow missed this milestone in men’s fashion, models took to the catwalk in oversized, ‘peep-hole’ garments that revealed, in some cases, the models’ penises.

The attention attracted by Owens’ stunt is unusual for men’s fashion, which is, in general, less talked about and less wellknown than women’s. Romain Reglade, St Hilda’s second year and veteran fashion week photographer, who shot ‘London Collections: Men this year for Vogue UK’, explained to Cherwell, “It’s very different being at men’s fashion weeks. Quite simply, everything is on a smaller scale: there is less media, fewer bloggers and in general less buzz.” Reglade puts this partially down to the fact that the Haute Couture shows in Paris follow straight after the men’s shows in the fashion calendar. “The designers that have both men’s and Haute Couture shows are putting most of their time and effort into the latter. Those shows are crazy. I’ve seen stars like Rihanna performing at some insane locations, like huge swimming pools with entrances on jet skis… and that’s without mentioning the clothes!”

That isn’t to say that you don’t see some weird things at the men’s shows though. Reglade warned us last week that the outfits sent down the runway at some menswear shows can often look, “like Oxford bop costumes,” with crazy make-up and weird accessories. While there is no direct precedent to the Rick Owens’ phallic flesh flashing collection, it is perhaps a natural progression: I’ve never seen a guy turn up to a bop in such a get-up, but I’ve certainly seen a few fall out of the bop and their bop costume like that. Not pretty.

Owens would clearly disagree with me. Responding to the show, and its shock factor induced hype, he said, “I pass classical marble statues of nude and draped figures in the park every day, and they are a vision of sensuality – yes, but also of grace and freedom. As a participant in one of our most progressive aesthetic arenas, am I not allowed to use this imagery? We all know that runway looks aren’t meant to be taken literally, they illustrate an ethos. I would like to present a utopian world of grace free of fear and shame.”

It seems like penises are the last flesh frontier of fear and shame in fashion. Neiman Marcus’ Fashion Director Ken Downing admitted after the show, “I’m much like a doctor. When you work in fashion, you see everything. It was just unexpected.” In fashion we should perhaps learn to expect the unexpected, but it doesn’t mean that we have to embrace it. Apparently Uggs are back ‘in’, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to see me in a pair.

Boyfriends everywhere have long been perplexed by their girlfriends who insist on cavorting in their oversized shirts, which are then never seen again. Fashion has never been afraid to experiment with gender, and borrowing from the boys in a bid for androgyny is nothing revolutionary. But this season, clothing takes a ground-breaking stance to gender, with the introduction of the gender-neutral wardrobe.

With models lining up in all-black outfits and silver masks, the setting of Rad Hourani’s show fits seamlessly into the couture schedule. However, the masks are not just a unique aesthetic experiment; they are intended to remove any gender differences between the models. Several other designers are joining the movement, with Miuccia Prada declaring backstage, “I think to people, not to gender.”

Similar to Hourani, she snubbed the traditional approach to showing menswear and womenswear on separate catwalks, and fused the two on one runway saying, “I think the combination is more real.” JW Anderson, Vivienne Westwood, and Givenchy have all jumped on the bandwagon, leading Laura Weir, writer for Vogue, to say, “Fashion is moving beyond the straightforward notion of borrowing from the boys towards a freewheeling, fabulously grey area where clothes are gender-neutral.”

So is that it? Are men and women now living parallel lives requiring clothes that reflect this equality? It is no secret that trends dominating Fashion Week in the past have not always translated to real wardrobes. Remember the explosion of yellow-diamond grills a fews years back? Yeah, just like braces, except less effective and entirely impractical for errands down Cornmarket. Who’s to say that the unisex wardrobe will ever become a reality? Well, Selfridges say. The department store is putting into action the dissemination of this idea in the form of a pop-up retail project and three floors of unisex fashion. To reflect the genderless nature of the clothing, traditional mannequins have also been scrapped. Judd Crane stated, “We want to take our customers on a journey where they can shop and dress without limitations or stereotypes, enabling fashion to exist as a purer expression of self.”

Here, unisex brands such as Hood by Air, KTZ and 69 (thinly veiled pun there) will be stocked.

But is this a revolution or just a passing trend elevated to a phenomenon in response to the recent media spotlight on the discussion of gender? Jonathan Anderson takes a particularly cynical view. “For me, putting men and women on the same catwalk at the same time is probably a reaction to the idea of condensed seasons. It is easier to show menswer at the same time because the production schedule for both collections are similar.” So the unisex wardrobe is a not a movement towards equality but rather towards practicality – fab! A more likely explanation is that it’s more about garments for garments’ sake. T-shirts, jeans, duffel coats, biker jackets – it all means the same thing, no matter if it’s a man or woman wearing it. They are a neutral zone.

The trend appears to be just that, a trend, and not grounded in gender neutrality at all. It is the logical furtherance of the ‘boyfriendfit’, the antithesis to the ‘shapely silhouette’. Loose pieces cut away from the body that happen not to betray shape and resultantly are appropriate for unisex production. ‘Gender neutrality’ is the product of the trend rather than its motivating force. As far as pragmatic application goes, however flexible our perceptions of gender and fashion become, our bodies will always be different and there will always be both customers who enjoy androgyny and those who love to exude, respectively, masculin- and femininity