In a candid chat earlier this month, actor Radhika Apte had told HT City Showstoppers, “There should be no boundaries in fashion. I love androgyny. Pantsuits and waistcoats are what I would normally wear.” Defined as exhibiting both masculine and feminine traits, androgynous fashion dilutes boundaries at many levels. Recently, American actor Brad Pitt was seen wearing a skirt at the Bullet Train premiere, while musician Lil Nas X wore a metallic pink miniskirt at the Audacy Beach Festival. Closer home, actors Ranveer Singh, Jim Sarbh, Konkona Sensharma have also embraced the trend. This set the plot for understanding androgynous fashion and a rising celebrity-led, social media-driven consumption of gender-free silhouettes.
So what is it about an androgynous piece of clothing that checks all the boxes of expressing via clothes? “Gender-free fashion is not about hiding, it’s about celebration of the body. The premise of androgynous fashion is the freedom of choice and wearing that you are comfortable in,” says designer and founder of the label Rishta, Arjun Saluja.
Breaking down the historical and sub-cultural evolution of androgyny in fashion, Saluja, says, “Understanding androgynous fashion is understanding androgyny itself. People can wear certain clothing and pass it off as androgynous but androgynous has a lot to do with a mindset. It is an emotion, a lifestyle and the choices one makes. It means freeing oneself of conditioning, social norms and stigmas. Non-binary, gender-neutral fashion has existed for a very long time but it has taken different shapes. They are not fashion trends; they have a societal reference. We have to ask why did women start dressing this way – they used it to voice their opinion and clothes became an expression of power and equality.”
BEYOND THE BINARIES
Couture pioneers such as Coco Chanel and Paul Poiret were among the first to popularise the ‘flapper style’ which consisted of trousers and a chic bob hairstyle. It was marketed as the latest trend in women fashion. This style gained popularity among the celebs in the ’30s, with German actor Marlene Dietrich becoming one of the first movie stars to adopt the flapper androgynous style.
Designer and founder of eponymous label Dhruv Kapoor alludes this shift to an unrestrained reflection of individual personalities. “The past had strict codes divided by gender – be it hairstyles, shoes or how a blazer was meant for men. But the new world is one that highlights individuality and freedom to choose. There are no guidelines, no rules and we are free to own ourselves just the way we desire. India is right on top as we fearlessly adapt to new ideologies. People care less about societal acceptance, it’s more about owning their personal ideologies,” he says. It’s a win-win because from the point of view of a creator, too, the evolution means more room to own a style and form. “I remember when intentional errors in styling started out – the half-tuck shirt, the shabby collar under a sweater or simply odd pairings and all of them are my go-to points when styling our collections. For me, it’s always “How do you want to feel?” when offering a collection- it’s always about the psychological impact of fashion that we wish to tap into through the brand,” says Kapoor.
As the gender-defying silhouettes flood the runways and celeb closets, Saluja gives a word of advice to style it right: “How you mix structures and drapes is important. The way you divide the body in a way that it helps elongate and accentuate your stature matters.”
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