Men's Fashion Week: Don't Forget Your Manties

Fashion Week is here again, which gives the Wall Street Journal an excuse to look at the "special lexicon" that has cemented itself in the mainstream of the men's fashion world in recent years. Mankinis, mandals, manties, murses, and even mantyhose—the growing list of items that were once female and are now certifiably androgynous is causing quite a stir. These semantic hybridizations have been a response to a male fashion sales boom, though many think throwing "man" in front of words associated with women's fashion is off-putting and emasculating.

"Manties is pretty high on the repellent meter," says a style advice columnist at GQ. Unfortunately for dissenters, words like "mewlery" (male jewelery) may be here to stay if the folks at Oxford English Dictionary have their way. Thanks to them, "manbag" earned its place in the lexicon five years ago, and the editors are tracking the newer terms for possible inclusion. (More Fashion Week stories.)