A recent study by underwear giant M&S claim about half of their men’s underwear is actually bought by women, with some increasingly close to out-buying them.
The British retailer claim half of their men’s underwear is currently bought by women, and while it’s impossible to ascertain how many of these are women purchasing for partners/parents and how many for themselves, the retail chain says it “does suggest that men’s underwear is a common consideration for women irrespective of whether or not they are wearing it themselves”. Without jumping to conclusions while jumping wholly to conclusions, does this mean that the final frontier in gender-specific clothing – underwear – no longer exists?
Of course not. That would be absurd. But it does make you wonder what’s going on. At M&S, their most successful collection – bar Rosie Huntington-Whiteley’s excellent lingerie line – is currently the 28-piece David Gandy for Autograph line, designed by British male model, David Gandy. The boxers are great: luxe, louche and sophisticated, they also have the unique cache of being as much for women as men. Team Gandy have confirmed that David “did design his collection very much with women in mind” confirming something else we’ve known for some time, that Team Gandy is no fool. That the Rosie collection now features a pair of feminine, lace-panelled shorts is no coincidence either. Masculine underwear or even men’s underwear is longer the sole preserve of men.
The trend in unisex underwear was further crystallised in the spring, when Calvin Klein reissued its original pants from the early 90s. Now we all know Calvin Klein operate a tight pant game. And reissued as part of a media campaign encouraging people to tweet #mycalvins, the label was clearly tapped into a style we were resolutely comfortable with. Elsewhere, though, the trend was building foundations in a more high fashion direction. Famously unisex-friendly Swedish brand Acne recently launched a line of “gender-neutral” underwear. “It’s underwear for real kids and not models,” the label’s creative director, Jonny Johansson, told the FT, before getting Ryan McGinley, the man who would perhaps have shot those grainy CK Wahlberg campaigns were he a little older, to shoot the campaign. Elsewhere in Sweden, singer Beatrice Ali posed on the cover of her album in Y-fronts, while American Apparel’s pop-coloured Y-fronts remain consistent bestsellers.
Here at UNDERU we are rather partial to the borrow from your boyfriend look. Our particular favourites are our Calvin Klein boxer briefs, mainly because you can purchase a matching bra/crop top (call us OCD if you want but we like to match our underwear!) but they are also super flattering on us ladies curves. Shop our full range of Calvin Klein underwear here.
