Men's fashion continues to break gender boundaries

The male romper has sparked debate surrounding traditional masculine attire so expect the arrival of lace shorts to pump the volume to new levels.

The Kickstarter campaign launching the RompHim, a cropped male cotton jumpsuit for men, prompted a heated response from double-breasted suit wearing, T-shirt and jeans-on-the-weekend types.

"I think it’s outrageous. Who wants to see a grown man dressed like a toddler," Mark Evan Blackman from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York said in the LA Times.

Now US rapper Cazwell has upped the ante by commissioning Hoza Rodriguez, the designer and owner of the streetwear brand Hologram City to create pastel lace shorts with matching shirts for his next single Loose Wrists.

US rapper Cazwell. Image: Instagram/@cazwellnyc

Cue the expected homophobic and gendered commentary on social media with one commentator @steve.conley24 posting: "If I see someone wearing these, I'm running them over with my car. I don't care if I have to drive pool side to get you. Just slice the nuts off... You're already a woman if you wear this garbage."



Signalling a shift in the wind (it could just be a breeze in your lace shorts) there has also been plenty of support.



@frank_the_thunderbird: "Hell yeah these shorts are [hot] the only reason you'd have a problem with them is either 1) frail masculinity and 2) for the female commenters) insecurity that your man gonna leave you Kuz another chick love his thighs"





@thejamesthird: "I would wear the sh*t out of these! Especially with matching underwear!"



Lace shorts, like the male romper, are not new to men’s fashion, with Gucci’s creative director Alessandro Michele having sent them down the runway in 2015 for the spring/summer ’16 collection. Alessandro has been at the forefront of fashion's greater integration of women’' and men’s collections, breaking down the invisible boundaries in the clothing racks.



Will Smith's actor son Jaden Smith has also become the poster boy for the 'swerve' movement, stepping out in dresses and skirts, as well as shorts and trousers. Jaden also featured in Louis Vuitton’s advertising campaigns for womenswear.

Lace shorts at Gucci, spring/summer '16. Image: Getty



"Thank You So Much For The Opportunity To Impact This World," he wrote on Instagram at the time.



Rompers, lace shorts… when it comes down to it, the only label on clothing that you should worry about is 'Dry-clean only'.



