When designer Rad Hourani sent a fleet of male and female models in silver masks down the catwalk in gender-neutral clothing at his Spring/Summer 2014 couture show, he caused quite a stir. This was the first time unisex clothing had been shown at a couture fashion show. It wasn’t, however, the first instance of fashion disregarding gender; a number of designers, both emerging and established, have recently experimented with gender in various ways.

Consider how British designer JW Anderson has challenged the conformity of male clothing by creating menswear with exposed shoulders, knee-length tops, and even the occasional leather dress. Or how designer brands like Raf Simons and Prada both opted for a mix of male and female models at their menswear shows at Paris Fashion Week this year. Gucci used mixed models to show its distinctly feminine menswear in Milan last year, while Saint Laurent, under creative director Hedi Slimane, has produced menswear for both genders, made in smaller sizes for women. Publications from the New York Times to the Huffington Post are drawing attention to this trend – it seems as though unisex is having a fashion moment. “Everyone’s trying to do it,” observes freelance fashion writer Dean Kissick.

So how did we get here? Why is the fashion world, which previously split its presentation of womenswear and menswear, now coalescing under one ambiguous-gender banner? This can partly be explained by aesthetics (we’re talking fashion, after all). A growing section of today’s fashion consumers now prefer to dress more simply, so the details and embellishments that typically help differentiate womenswear from menswear are less evident. Fashion brands such as Acne which produce clothing in simple cuts and muted colours are on the rise. “The clean shapes and more minimalist approach to dressing which is bubbling through the industry have relaxed traditional dressing rules,” says Chris Hobbs, style editor at luxury fashion retailer Matches Fashion.

Alongside this hunger for minimalism there has also been a change in purchasing habits. Consumers have, for the past few years, become increasingly comfortable with buying and wearing items originally intended for the opposite sex. Just look at the swathes of men who traipsed into female denim departments in search of the skinny look during the noughties. Or how in the past few years the relaxed-fit ‘boyfriend’ jean, which belongs to – or appears to belong to – their other half has become part of women’s fashion vocabulary.

This particular shift directly inspired London-based denim label Bethnals, one of a number of new unisex brands. Head designer Melissa Clement focuses on quality rather than specific cuts for men or women. “I’ve been drawn in by the similarities of men’s and women’s jeans, with women buying into the boyfriend jean, for instance, or men squeezing into their girlfriend’s skinny jeans to get the drainpipe look,” says Clement. “There really is a blur in boundaries for styles.”