Gender-bending the rules of fashion

The flowing silhouette of the kedia top on a male goat herder in the desert of Kutch. The female sarpanch in Haryana, in a crisp white buttoned shirt offset against her glittering neon ghagra.

Sartorial choices of men and women on the streets are often precursors to what will play out on the runway, and its cyclical nature is a reminder of the changing fashion seasons.

But a trend that has remained forever fashionable in newer avatars every passing decade is androgynous fashion.

Diane Keaton walked the streets of Manhattan in a coat and tie in the 1977 film Annie Hall . She continues to sport dapper looks at award shows giving the customary designer gown a miss. Actors Anne Hathaway, Jennifer Aniston and Natalie Portman have also worn suits on the red carpet.

Whether onscreen or on streets, women have always experimented with androgynous looks, but the only skirts popular among men have been kilts. And those are more a statement of heritage than a fashion dare. Among the few men who did blur the line were Mick Jagger and David Bowie who howled onstage in mascara and a dress in the ‘60s.

Quick recap While high-end fashion might not have embraced the theme in a large scale yet, contemporary designers are slowly bringing this trend to the runway.

In January 2014, Gucci’s menswear was sported on female models with androgynous features and thin male models who walked the ramp wearing silhouettes which would traditionally find place in women’s collection.

That same year, Ireland-born designer JW Anderson’s collection ‘Versus’ also saw pretty men in makeup and lace. Then, in the first week of January this year, Nicolas Ghesquière, the creative director for Louis Vuitton, announced via Instagram that 17-year-old actor Jaden Smith, son of actor Will Smith, is the new face of SS16 Womenswear Campaign.

Closer home, runway outings by designers such as Dhruv Kapoor of DRVV, Arjun Saluja of Rishta and Ruchika Sachdeva of Bodice have celebrated and experimented with androgyny.

Dhruv’s 2013 Lakme Fashion Week showcase included straight tunics with side slits that can be worn as a dress by women or layered over pants by men. Monochromes in black, white and the occasional nude tone also lent itself into an androgynous style. The brand’s vision is to move “past social conventions (and this) is expressed in the androgyny of the garments.”

Skirts and suits Arjun Saluja’s lifelong tryst with androgyny materialised in 2014 as his collection ‘Rishta’. “If you look at the history of India there was a lot of tailoring that was involved, besides the embellishment and the surface ornamentation. It's about taking those concepts of menswear and applying them to women's wear. It's about working with different shapes and forms and seeing how 2D would fit into 3D. It's a very technical way of looking at it”, he said in an interview to The Hindu in 2011.

Ranveer Singh wore Saluja’s ‘skirt-suit’, and went on to be named the Most Stylish Male Actor of the Year at the Absolut Elyx Glamour and Style Awards recently.

“Androgyny for women has been around last two decades or so — androgyny for men is clearly having a moment now. Besides jewellery and dhotis, angarkhas and anarkalis are in vogue for men.

“A major part of the trend involves the confidence and the attitude to carry it off,” says Diksha Sachdev, CEO, Fashion Solutions, a marketing agency for fashion and lifestyle brands.

Delhi-based designer Ruchika Sachdeva of Bodice also blends classics with a boyish style and creates androgynous basics in neutral palettes. While men may not be in a hurry to make a fashion-statement in skirts, women continue to experiment with androgynous style with plaid shirts, boyfriend jeans and Oxford shoes.

“For winters it will probably involve borrowing some sweaters from my man. And then there are the power suits, loafers and big bulky boyfriend watches on a dainty wrist that I would swear by,” says Richa Gupta, Founder and CEO of Zumbasa, an online retailer of women’s clothing and accessories.

Even though all these styles seem to blur the line dividing gender, each item of clothing exchanged between men and women and worn with gay abandon is not necessarily an androgynous fashion outing.

Defining style in gendered terms can be as restrictive or limiting as the socially defined norms of behaviour for each. In the end, fashion remains a sacred and special way to be who we want to be.

Manika Dhama is a freelance writer and journalist based in Dubai