Unisex appeal

A recent style award function rounded up some of the best-dressed folks from across the entertainment and fashion industries — in their sartorial best of course. Interestingly though, a few female guests like Radhika Apte and Surveen Chawla turned up wearing three-piece suits while Ranveer Singh, the ever-experimental actor, donned a half-skirt, half-trouser ensemble. He’s not alone however. A growing number of men and style icons are picking up styles and prints that would be traditionally feminine.

While some attribute this blurring of the lines between male and female fashions to the West and some to a revival of eastern traditions, most fashionistas seem to be in agreement that experimentation and expanding gender boundaries is definitely a positive trend.

Godrej Culture Lab director Parmesh Shahani says that fashion has always pushed the boundaries of creativity. “Gender and sex are two different things. Gender is the performance of social behaviour or gender codes. It is great that we are expanding gender boundaries, as times change. The youth of India are very individualistic in their fashion sense and while experimenting, they often push gender codes,” he says.

Fashion designer Narendra Kumar agrees that the trend towards androgynous fashion shows a bending of gender roles and says that fashion has become an independent statement of self. “Men don’t need any validation for their fashion sense these days. This speaks a lot about how independent their minds are. Men are making statements but at the same time, they are being comfortable with themselves. The man’s ego is softening. It doesn’t require a manly fashion sense to feed it,” he says.

Bollywood diva Neha Dhupia also doffs her hat to Ranveer Singh’s daring fashion statement. “Ranveer Singh wearing or not wearing something fashionable doesn’t matter, I will stare at him anyway; he’s so handsome. I love how daring he is,” she says with a laugh.

Tracing the trend back a year, Priya says that it began in Berkeley, Los Angeles and New York. “The trend goes back to women empowerment movement, which is very much a part of US culture. H&M was one of the first brands that came up with an androgynous line, which both men and women can wear. We also have clothes like boyfriend jeans and dungarees, which is worn by people of both genders. Now this trend has come to India,” she says, adding that she herself often wears suits or pairs her husband’s shirts and sweatshirts with trousers and sweatpants. “It makes for a funky, different style that I really like.”

Parmesh, however, traces androgynous fashions not to foreign shores, but to our own culture. “We traditionally have an androgynous sense of fashion. Look at lungis or sarongs for instance, or the kind of heavy jewellery that the kings of medieval India used to wear. I think that we are harkening back to those times and it is great that this trend is not just bound to gay men. Straight men are now being playful with their fashion sense and I think that the results are beautiful,” he adds.

Priya’s love for this trend is obvious both as a fashion designer and a fashion forward dresser. “People in creative fields are always exploring who we are, and this often finds an expression through fashion. I really hope that this trend is here to stay,” she signs off.