W Magazine just revealed its new “His & Hers” issue, which features 10 different covers starring “royals” of Hollywood from the film, TV and music worlds.
All the photos were taken by Mario Sorrenti to showcase the beauty of male and female bodies. We have Robert Pattinson in a bright orange turtleneck and pink pants; James Corden in a feathered hat; Winona Ryder looking all sorts of ‘70s boho-chic; Tilda freakin’ Swinton.
Check out the covers below.
In the course of planning the shoot, W editor Stefano Tonchi said an “emotional debate” within the fashion industry flared up.
“Is today’s fashion gender fluid, meaning that the codes of masculine and feminine are no longer fixed,” he wrote in an introduction to the covers, “or is it gender neutral, skirting the issue altogether?”
“However you may answer these questions for yourself,” he added, “in this issue we decided to celebrate women and men who dare to challenge stereotypes and conventions by choosing exactly who they want to be.”
How a perfectly sculpted Chris Hemsworth challenges stereotypes about gender is a bit of a head-scratcher. It seems that W is trying to put a fresh spin on its annual “Royals” issue, which began in 2014 to spotlight of-the-moment talent. It was women-only until last year, when the magazine added men’s fashion and included famous faces like Kanye West and Kit Harington.
Gender in fashion, though, has been a buzzy topic. Earlier this year, Vogue released a cover story entitled “Gigi Hadid and Zayn Malik Are Part of a New Generation Embracing Gender Fluidity,” in which the two young stars spoke about sharing clothes from each other’s closets and modeled “gender-bending” outfits. Some took issue with the article, pointing out that there’s more to the gender fluid identity than clothes.
“Unfortunately, where this piece misses the mark is this insular focus on celebrity and the fashion world,” HuffPost’s James Michael Nichols wrote, “and a lack of critical analysis of what it actually means to be a gender fluid or gender-nonconforming person in our world today.”
Tonchi notes that, for him, “fluidity remains a political statement, forever associated with the LGBT agenda.” But for W’s younger editors, the merging of men’s and women’s fashion means something else.
“How you dress is not necessarily a matter of gender” for those younger editors, he said, “it’s just another way to express yourself.”
Before You Go
