I have always loved wearing boyfriend’s shirts (here and here), but my love for androgynous clothing has increased following the girls at Trial Room – a blog dedicated to girls who wear boy’s clothes. Gender-neutral fashion has been in vogue since the 1980s, though it was called unisex or free-size clothing back then. In the nineties, female rappers and hip hop musicians started wearing boys clothes. But it is only in the last few years when runways have been distinctly more androgynous – with the high fashion labels like Yeezy to the the traditional fashion labels like Gucci and Marc Jacobs showcasing gender neutral clothing.
The core of genderless fashion is not to merge the sexes into one standardized mass but blur the lines which limit us in what we choose to wear basis our gender and gender roles. Gendered fashion is archaic, based on subjective factors like sex and gender and it reflects current anxieties about gender, ethnicity and religion in a globalized world. With an increase in the visibility of non-binary gender it is important that we outgrow the rigid gender roles for a less black and white vision of gender and fashion.
Women wearing menswear and men-inspired clothes on the runway is nothing new but gender bending like Jaden Smith’s 2016 appearance in a skirt in a Louis Vuitton helps push the boundary for men to wear womenswear. Closer home, Ranveer Singh in a skirt last year may not have been a fan favorite but it definitely started a conversation on gender neutral fashion. While runways and even big cities are largely more accepting, but the idea of a genderless future in more rural areas is still a long way off.
Here is my gender bender wearing men’s clothing, inspired by this, an outfit customized for me by new menswear designer on the block Rajat Suri.
Photo credit – Pratham
