When I first saw GQ’s latest cover shoot with Brad Pitt, somewhere at the back of my mind, it threw a striking resemblance to David Bowie a.k.a Ziggy Stardust’s 80s iconic looks. I decided to compile the imagery and see for myself if there really was an apparent likeness and voilà- There it was. The saturated tone to imagery, Brad Pitt’s androgynous styling, his dramatic but soulful eyes, the conspicuous use of florals and both stars donning a dramatic pose.

The brief for GQ team may have been to tap onto 80s aesthetics, which they have done a great job in, no doubt; but this cover shoot brings me to note the wardrobe styling specifically which outlines (as mentioned above) an androgynous look, also bordering on a gender-fluid tailoring in some of his (Brad Pitt’s) outfits. And who better than David Bowie to reference a gender-fluid or an androgynous style? He is an epitome of venturing against the conventional gender norms, not as a marketing gimmick, but as a way of being.

Since I am knee-deep into my dissertation topic of ‘uncovering genderless fashion’, and honestly, seeing Harry Styles campaign this style too much and too often had started to become a tad bit too repetitive. Always eager to see fresher, but veteran faces being at the forefront of communicating and fashioning this style. More than the story just being about the clothes that a model or an actor wears, if it is styled in a way to look composite, it would speak way louder and communicate to the audience that ‘genderless clothing‘ can also be fun & interesting to explore and not always raise eyebrows in this conventionally gender-binary world that we live in.