Fashion is increasingly blurring boundaries. Making clothes for all types of body shapes and sizes, and colours, races and genders, fashion industry is getting more accepting and inclusive. Recently, American artist Billy Porter was seen sporting a gown at the Academy Awards 2019. Other actors like Ezra Miller, who believes in projecting his sexuality through fashion, or Cody Fern, who aced a gender neutral outfit at the Golden Globes, have showed us that fashion indeed is gender fluid, and anyone is free to wear what they like, and totally own the look.
Recently, fashion label Antar Agni by Ujjawal Dubey released yet another thought-provoking collection, Into the Light, that Dubey says is a deep dive into the tranquility of self-acceptance, a meditative space free of clattering judgments. He further mentions that the collection was born out of a collective consciousness of simplicity. “It is a celebration of the soul, of the people and their courage where every garment is reflective of their simplicity, acceptance and individual style, making each drape an expression of freedom — freedom from the constraints of gender, impatience, fear, inhibitions and other narrow boxes we emerge out of to be our true selves,” he says.
However, Dubey believes that fashion has always been gender fluid. “As a designer, our job is only to design clothes and not to dictate who can wear what — a constraint that society has put on people. One should dress as they feel because at the end of the day they really do not owe an answer to anyone,” says he.
Into the Light features jackets, kurtas and layered trousers in natural fabrics that reflect the colours of rivers, thickets, deserts and summer skies. “Antar-Agni celebrates the balance of quietness in nature and ourselves, journeying against the narrow confines of gender binaries,” he says.
Ayesha Munshi, a fashion designer and a fashion writer at INIFD Deccan, says that gender fluid fashion is more for a cause than a fashion trend. “It stands for a movement that people have to be accepting and accommodating of those who are different in terms of their sexuality,” she says adding, “Gender fluid fashion has held a huge stigma in the past because it was associated with the queer community.”
People have a wrong notion when it comes to the gender fluid fashion trend.“They need to understand that this trend is not limited only to people belonging to the LGBTQIA community, but even a straight person can sport the trend,” says Munshi who believes that when people accept one’s clothes, they finally learn to accept the person that they are.
When asked how can people opt for a more gender fluid way of dressing, Munshi says, “Women have worn jeans and trousers for a very long time. Back in the day they were obviously frowned upon but not anymore. There are a few trendy gender fluid clothes that men can opt for.”
Crop tops have now become agender, because anyone can sport it. “It is a practical piece of clothing in the heat. All one needs to do is play with the choice of colours and wear a pair of good denims and you are good to go,” she says adding that colours like pink or pastel shades are not gender specific. “A few boys actually carry off pink with more ease and confidence than girls do,” she quips.
Gone are the days when certain clothes were meant for certain genders. It is now time to embrace people the way they are.
