Vivienne Westwood has released a unisex autumn/winter 2015 fashion campaign featuring Game of Thrones actress Gwendoline Christie.
Best known as Brienne of Tarth in the TV fantasy-drama series, the pale, 6ft 3in star, posed for Jurgen Teller’s lens alongside male model Leebo Freeman, both fittingly playing a unisex couple.
The collection aims to blur the line between men and womenswear. "Trousers for women, yes! Dresses for men, the same dresses that women wear? Do that! It takes a lot of trial and error," said Westwood.
"Dresses without a woman’s waist! But then you, the woman, look like a king or queen (from history or a parallel universe) - you the man look like a king or a queen! We love the change in proportion: the big shoulders give a small head- it’s so sexual because it’s new, it makes you look at the person from outside, it’s all so sexual because we’re looking at people with new eyes."
The 74-year-old revolutionary designer met the 37-year-old actress, who's in a current relationship with British designer Giles Deacon, at her most-recent Red Label show, where she thought Christie would be perfect fit for the upcoming gender-neutral collection.
"In this collection the same suit can be worn by a man and a woman, then I realised Gwendoline would be perfect and would fit the clothes so I asked her to do it," she said. "She is such an attractive woman."
Meanwhile, Christie said to be "so proud" to be part of the campaign, calling it a "childhood dream". "I love the 'Unisex' theme of this collection. It is so relevant for Vivienne Westwood to reassert their activist mindset and create a collection that takes us beyond our current gender stereotypes with beauty and intelligence."
Christie also praised photographer Teller, who she "hungered to work with for 20 years".
Gender-neutral is a trending theme in the fashion industry. Many designers have taken boundary-breaking unisex concept into their collections, including Miucci Prada, who’s declared backstage “I think to people, not gender”. Also, Selfridges launched the Agender campaign earlier this year.
