Without a doubt, this is one of the most interesting current trends, since it has driven a creative movement in all cosmetic categories, starting with fragrances and makeup, where it has had a great development, up to personal care and skin care where we can see new disruptive concepts. The following are some of the new trends that are leading the advance in the genderless concepts.
Genderless voice: The Internet of Things (IoT) is revolutionizing the way in which devices interact with cosmetics, beauty and consumers. Last month, the launch of Q, “the world’s first genderless voice,” was announced, which was created to put an end to the gender bias in virtual assistants of artificial intelligence. It is like a Siri or Alexa, but not masculine or feminine. It was specially designed at a frequency between 145 and 175 hertz, a range defined by scientists of sound. In this aspect, the creators of Q say: “as society continues to tear down the gender binary, recognizing those who do not identify as men or women, the technology we create must continue” … bye bye to digital sexism.
You can hear the voice in the following link: https://youtu.be/t6g5KPkZjLU
in-cosmetics we will see soon the launch of the first applications developed for the IoT, AI (artificial intelligence), RV (virtual reality) and RA (augmented reality) in which the voices and images will be genderless. In this way, the entire union of technology, devices and cosmetics will be more inclusive, since we are all human beings and we do not want labels.
Ru Beauty: The cosmetic industry and especially the makeup industry is having a great source of inspiration in RuPaul’s drag race and in the great movement that has influenced Latin America (and globally), since there are currently more than 5 drag competitions that have been very popular in the region, including: “La más Draga”, reality show that has its own channel on YouTube (1), “Versus DragQueens Mx” project carried out between Chile and Mexico (2), “Oh my Drag” in Colombia (3), “Dragstars” project that aimed to create the first queer group in Latin America, “Carrera Drag” in Mexico (4) and “Drag me as Queen”, created by E! in 2018. On the other hand, the participation of the first transgender participant in Miss Universe was also highly commented last year, undoubtedly a very interesting trend that has also been reflected in various events in Latin America.
These competitions honour diversity, acceptance, respect, self-esteem and personal appreciation. That is the reason why cosmetics plays a fundamental role in the development of these programs that are generating styles, trends and concepts and we see on YouTube many videos and tutorials on makeup finishes and application tips with thousands of reproductions. For this reason, several brands in Latin America are launching more inclusive product lines that promote these values and celebrate individuality and human authenticity. We are also seeing more often the participation of Drag models in the platforms for new product launches.
Vegan and genderless … the new fragrances that set trends in Latam: The vegan trend has made the leap from skin care, personal care and makeup to fragrances and that is why several brands in the region are launching this claim in new products to meet the needs of this niche. On the other hand, fragrances no longer want to have gender and neither understand about seasons…
Fluid gender – a trend that grows in the region: The fluid gender is one that does not recognize a defined sexual identity and can perform between the neutral, the masculine or the feminine, that is to say, that it circulates among several gender identities. For example, in Argentina, Facebook allows you to choose from 54 gender options when creating a profile. Different kind of gender-free cosmetics, launched by major brands, are already arriving in Latin America, which include fragrances, natural tones for lips, facial routines of skin care, facial makeup kits … the objective of brands is the inclusion, that means, anyone can use the products This trend is gaining strength in Latin America and in many of our countries local brands are starting to launch products with these concepts.
Neutral packaging: It is also interesting to see how the codes of packaging and packaging evolve in this trend. We are seeing minimalist packaging, neutral packaging and designs without gender in the new proposals.
Athleisure: In this trend, we also see the rise of the non-gender concept. The products to use before, during and after the gym are opening a very important segment in the region and we are seeing concepts of new products away from the gender and focused on athletic performance. The objective is to prepare the body for physical activity, maintain it in optimal conditions during the activity and promote its recovery after exercise.
Neuro-gender: Thanks to neuroscience, the cosmetics industry is identifying preferences that go beyond gender. We recently published an article on how to apply neuroscience to develop a methodology that allows evaluating the genderless olfactory profile of different perfumes (5).
Genderless innovation is trendy… because the big changes start from the minorities and for that reason, the brands are making very interesting innovation challenges in different categories, without gender and without prejudices.
Links de interés:
Love this! Super interesting trend that is taking protagonism all around the globe.