What Happens When Men Dress Up As Women and Vice Versa?

Is the future of fashion gender fluid? Meet 6 Indian designers who are breaking the binary.

09 July, 2020

What Happens When Men Dress Up As Women and Vice Versa?

Is the future of fashion gender fluid? Meet 6 Indian designers who are breaking the binary.

“Gender-fluid fashion is a crude, rudimentary, and myopic term coined to indulge the queer community. Our industry has deep-rooted misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, and classism. Designers think that putting a man in a sari or a woman in a tuxedo is gender fluid. It’s such a dangerous and irresponsible way of viewing fluidity in identity. The moment you start treating androgyny, gender fluidity, and sexlessness as a trend, you’ve lost the plot. My clothes are neither intimidating, nor are they uninviting. The shapes and silhouettes are sexless. I don’t ascribe a gender to them. They’re just languid, distorted fabric columns. I don’t use sex as a currency in design...there’s no acknowledgement of gender. However, with the addition of colour and construction details, the form might get ‘gendered’, but that’s on the consumer...not me. Over the years, several people have embraced these forms, and it has been a wonderful experience.”

11) Kallol Datta 1955 “Gender-fluid fashion is a crude, rudimentary, and myopic term coined to indulge the queer community. Our industry has deep-rooted misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, and classism. Designers think that putting a man in a sari or a woman in a tuxedo is gender fluid. It’s such a dangerous and irresponsible way of viewing fluidity in identity. The moment you start treating androgyny, gender fluidity, and sexlessness as a trend, you’ve lost the plot. My clothes are neither intimidating, nor are they uninviting. The shapes and silhouettes are sexless. I don’t ascribe a gender to them. They’re just languid, distorted fabric columns. I don’t use sex as a currency in design...there’s no acknowledgement of gender. However, with the addition of colour and construction details, the form might get ‘gendered’, but that’s on the consumer...not me. Over the years, several people have embraced these forms, and it has been a wonderful experience.”

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“Gender fluid fashion isn’t a new concept. In his 1984 collection, And God Created Man, designer Jean Paul Gaultier reinterpreted the man skirt. Alessandro Michele, Creative Director of Gucci, has been promoting androgyny by sending men in pussy-bow blouses and ruffles down the runway. He even featured Hari Nef, an American actor and transgender woman, in the label’s Bloom collection. In Scotland, the traditional men’s attire includes a skirt. Back home, unstitched lengths of fabric are draped as a sari or dhoti to suit the wearer’s needs. So, rigid gender norms came into the picture post modernisation of society and religion. However, we’re living in an unprecedented period of gender upheaval, where the traditional lines of what constitutes as men’s and women’s clothes are being blended, blurred, and even reimagined altogether. In fact, today’s fixation with fluidity is more substantial and politically engaged. In short, it’s an exciting time, and designers should participate in the change enthusiastically.”

42) Yadvi Agarwal (Yavi)“Gender fluid fashion isn’t a new concept. In his 1984 collection, And God Created Man, designer Jean Paul Gaultier reinterpreted the man skirt. Alessandro Michele, Creative Director of Gucci, has been promoting androgyny by sending men in pussy-bow blouses and ruffles down the runway. He even featured Hari Nef, an American actor and transgender woman, in the label’s Bloom collection. In Scotland, the traditional men’s attire includes a skirt. Back home, unstitched lengths of fabric are draped as a sari or dhoti to suit the wearer’s needs. So, rigid gender norms came into the picture post modernisation of society and religion. However, we’re living in an unprecedented period of gender upheaval, where the traditional lines of what constitutes as men’s and women’s clothes are being blended, blurred, and even reimagined altogether. In fact, today’s fixation with fluidity is more substantial and politically engaged. In short, it’s an exciting time, and designers should participate in the change enthusiastically.”

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“People have always expressed themselves through their clothes, without paying heed to how they are ‘meant’ to be worn. So, androgyny, cross-dressing, and gender fluidity has been around for a while, but it’s only now that the dialogue around them has started. While it’s important to make them a part of mainstream discourse, no-one should be labelled. Nobody has the right to put people into boxes marked ‘normal’ or ‘quirky’. Because it’s not necessary for everyone to have the same normal. Gender-fluid fashion, after all, is all about expressing your individuality, being free and comfortable in your skin, and having fun without being tagged.”

73) Chola The Label “People have always expressed themselves through their clothes, without paying heed to how they are ‘meant’ to be worn. So, androgyny, cross-dressing, and gender fluidity has been around for a while, but it’s only now that the dialogue around them has started. While it’s important to make them a part of mainstream discourse, no-one should be labelled. Nobody has the right to put people into boxes marked ‘normal’ or ‘quirky’. Because it’s not necessary for everyone to have the same normal. Gender-fluid fashion, after all, is all about expressing your individuality, being free and comfortable in your skin, and having fun without being tagged.”

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“One of the biggest issues with gender-fluid fashion is that, in order to move away from stereotypes, we’re creating new ones. We have preconceived notions that a man wearing a sari or a woman sporting a tuxedo is gender fluid. Why do we have to put labels? Everyone should have the freedom to wear what they want, without having to explain their choices to the world. For instance, if I choose to wear a sari or a skirt, I shouldn’t have to make statements—it’s my fundamental right. That’s where we’re stuck today, we need to normalise gender fluid fashion. As a society, we’ve had a regressive mindset for centuries. We’ve defined gender roles, wherein men donned ‘athletic clothes’ because they’d go out to work, whereas women wore ‘saris/skirts’ as they stayed indoors. But today, everyone’s sharing the same workspaces, so why should their sartorial choices create a distinction?” says Pranav Mishra.

104) Shyma Shetty and Pranav Mishra (Huemn) “One of the biggest issues with gender-fluid fashion is that, in order to move away from stereotypes, we’re creating new ones. We have preconceived notions that a man wearing a sari or a woman sporting a tuxedo is gender fluid. Why do we have to put labels? Everyone should have the freedom to wear what they want, without having to explain their choices to the world. For instance, if I choose to wear a sari or a skirt, I shouldn’t have to make statements—it’s my fundamental right. That’s where we’re stuck today, we need to normalise gender fluid fashion. As a society, we’ve had a regressive mindset for centuries. We’ve defined gender roles, wherein men donned ‘athletic clothes’ because they’d go out to work, whereas women wore ‘saris/skirts’ as they stayed indoors. But today, everyone’s sharing the same workspaces, so why should their sartorial choices create a distinction?” says Pranav Mishra.

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“When I started out, circa 2013, I had to explain that my brand doesn’t cater just to the LGBTQIA+ community...it’s for everyone. Luckily, things have changed. Today, my consumers are more educated and they know what to expect from my label. Also, with celebrities like Ranveer Singh wearing a skirt or Rhea Kapoor sporting a pantsuit, people are finally waking up to gender-fluid fashion. However, with my AW19 collection, Arukh, (meaning directionless), I’m trying to move beyond gender fluidity. I have eliminated tags that tell you which part of a garment goes behind your neck or hips. You can use your imagination to style them the way you want to. Some of the pieces can even be worn two ways. For instance, my favourite piece is the ‘jackirt’, which is basically a jacket that can also be worn as a skirt. We’re also experimenting with clothes that have a boat neck in the back, and a deep neck on the front. The idea is to create designs that are fluid, and don’t come with or attach any labels.”

135) Sumiran Kabir Sharma (Anaam) “When I started out, circa 2013, I had to explain that my brand doesn’t cater just to the LGBTQIA+ community...it’s for everyone. Luckily, things have changed. Today, my consumers are more educated and they know what to expect from my label. Also, with celebrities like Ranveer Singh wearing a skirt or Rhea Kapoor sporting a pantsuit, people are finally waking up to gender-fluid fashion. However, with my AW19 collection, Arukh, (meaning directionless), I’m trying to move beyond gender fluidity. I have eliminated tags that tell you which part of a garment goes behind your neck or hips. You can use your imagination to style them the way you want to. Some of the pieces can even be worn two ways. For instance, my favourite piece is the ‘jackirt’, which is basically a jacket that can also be worn as a skirt. We’re also experimenting with clothes that have a boat neck in the back, and a deep neck on the front. The idea is to create designs that are fluid, and don’t come with or attach any labels.”

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“There are two issues when it comes to gender-fluid fashion. First, a lot of people don’t know that it promotes sustainability. For instance, my gender-fluid clothes follow a one-size-fits-all policy. People belonging to different size and gender groups can wear them. Each garment is strategically constructed in a way that the shape, silhouette, or length suits all body types. This way, when I supply to stores, I don’t have to put up size-based racks. You can’t have a conversation about inclusivity in non-binary fashion without standardising shapes and sizes. Second, I often find straight men looking at my creations and saying, ‘Hey, this is for the gay category, right?’ or ‘I won’t wear women’s clothes!’. I get that a lot, thanks to homophobia. It’s very important for people to understand that gender fluid clothes are for everyone.”

166) Akshat Bansal (Bloni) “There are two issues when it comes to gender-fluid fashion. First, a lot of people don’t know that it promotes sustainability. For instance, my gender-fluid clothes follow a one-size-fits-all policy. People belonging to different size and gender groups can wear them. Each garment is strategically constructed in a way that the shape, silhouette, or length suits all body types. This way, when I supply to stores, I don’t have to put up size-based racks. You can’t have a conversation about inclusivity in non-binary fashion without standardising shapes and sizes. Second, I often find straight men looking at my creations and saying, ‘Hey, this is for the gay category, right?’ or ‘I won’t wear women’s clothes!’. I get that a lot, thanks to homophobia. It’s very important for people to understand that gender fluid clothes are for everyone.”