''Gender neutral" was a prominent trend feature of last week's South African Menswear Week Autumn/Winter 2016 in Cape Town.Fashion has long toyed with gender boundaries. For example, in the 1700s men wore wigs and stockings and in the 1970s David Bowie and Diane Keaton (in Annie Hall) played with the androgenous look.This year, Julia Mpoko's menswear brand Mo'Ko Elosa sent a female model out onto the ramp dressed in men's clothes.Launched last year, Mpoko's label is designed for both sexes."I like [the fact] that a man can buy a Mo'ko Elosa item that isn't necessarily intended to be menswear, put it on and look masculine. The same way I, as a woman, can go into a guy's closet, put on one of his items, pair it with one of mine and still look feminine and graceful," Mpoko says.Her latest collection, called "Heikö Narashi: A Nonchalant Equilibruim" Mo'Ko Elosa A/W 2016 is inspired by the Berber people of Morocco and consists of a combination of rich and lush fabrics like wools, suedes and knits.The Belgian designer's collection is modern but exudes a sense of nostalgia."It plays around [with a] variety of textures, in the same colours reminiscent of a warm winter's day, when the sun is beaming down," she says.Following their successful show at Pitti Uomo in the Italian city of Florence last month, Keith Henning and Jody Paulsen expanded their A/W collection on the SAMW runway. The design duo, known as AKJP, made reference to the artist Georgina Gratrix's art and impasto brushwork in the additional looks in their menswear collection. They had a mix of males and females on the runway, and also subscribed to the gender neutral trend, calling it the "tomboy look"."We want to expand our range of outer wear for women."In any case, most of our clothes are unisex," says the duo.AKJP's signature is an artful take on utilitarian menswear and makes use of layering and asymmetric detailing."The men's and women's silhouettes range from richly layered to finely tailored but with all of them, as always, our focus is on comfort and wearability."Designers including Rich Mnisi, Kim Gush and Imprint by Mzukisi Mbane also showed gender neutral designs at SAMW.Trend Analyst Nicola Cooper, says the fashions are aligned to the awareness of transgender people."People in general are rebelling against being boxed," she says...