Recently, international sportswear and athleisure brand Reebok released its exclusive Pride month special collection that the brand defined as ‘Unity by Reebok’, offering a wide range of apparels and shoes on its official website (currently not available on Reebok’s website). Among other global brands, Levi’s and Adidas (in collaboration with Rich Mnisi) have also caught public attention with their funky outfits ranging from unisex tees to pants with bold, large designs, to trucker vests, tank tops, waist bags and whatnot! These brands, like many others across the globe, are promoting gender-neutral fashion, or fashion that does not conform to any particular gender, which, however, many believe need not necessarily be in public discourse only in the Pride month and can be cherished throughout the year.
Many brands in the recent past have warmed up to the idea of exclusive collections advocating gender fluidity in clothes while many maintain their existing stocks are equally picked up by anyone standing at any point of the vivid gender spectrum without any inhibitions. While this may come across to some as a relatively new concept of styling and presenting oneself, many refuse to call this whole “new fashion”, if we may call it so, challenging — they say it’s just like a regular way of clothing which needs no reintroduction.
Founded in 2021, Aayka Fashion recently rolled out an elegant selection of pieces ranging from a set of vests, and pants to bandhgalas and sherwanis. The New-York based brand has curated this particular line in collaboration with gender-fluid influencer Sufi Malik and named it Sufi x Aayka. Featuring a picture of the popular content creator in their beautiful light blue sherwani, the brand has captioned one of its Instagram posts, “We listened, we launched, now we grow! Sufi was our first foray into gender-fluid South Asian fashion. Stay tuned as we continue to preach for authenticity and autonomy in a world that supports conformity.”
The clothing line that brands itself as an easy access to South Asian fashion and a window of opportunity for South Asian artisans to showcase their creativity and enhance their visibility, revealed to t2 what made them venture into curating the exclusive pieces. “The queer South Asian community is often overlooked, and I felt from a fashion standpoint I could help empower the concept of wearing whatever you feel the most comfortable in,” said Aashumi Mody, one of the founders.
Aashumi reveals an interesting backstory that too sparked a debate in her mind. “So we were styling one of our models in Jaipur in 2021 during a campaign. She wore our lehnga but the blouse would not fit her. And what followed was unbelievable. We just grabbed a sherwani and wrapped it around her, and it fit her to a T! She shot in sherwani on top and lehnga at the bottom. People loved it.”
Mumbai-based Verreaux clothing on their Instagram page endorses simple T-shirts as “fashion without boundaries”, “ultimate unisex choice” and “clothing that transcends gender, celebrates individuality”. When we asked them about the idea, the response came, “We never thought of making clothes specifically for men or women.”
Resham Karmchandani, founder of The Pot Plant, shared how this unisex fashion brand reflects her philosophy and that of co-owner Sanya Suri. “We never look at clothes belonging to a specific gender. We just design them and leave it to the wearer to decide what they would be comfortable in,” said Resham, adding that the brand recently opened its first flagship store in Delhi’s Defence Colony. “From clothes that last a lifetime to fashion that recognises no gender”, reads their brand description.
Explaining how the brand completely omits the duties of gender labeling on the shopping experience they offer, Resham notes, “I feel nowadays the terms gender identity and gender clothing have become an ‘it’ thing. And I feel this only creates problems instead of solving the issue... it’s like you’re creating a third category and calling it gender-fluid clothing. Instead, what we say is it’s a T-shirt or a dress and anybody can wear it. One can never really define gender-fluid clothing in terms of what silhouette it is or what fabrics are used. It is faster than that... fashion is the first thing people see about you, and it’s a very powerful tool. You translate it into your own identity, and for that, you should have that freedom and comfort.”
According to the brand’s website, their outfits are available in a range of sizes — from XXS to 6XL +. Reiterating how the brand normalises this whole idea of genderless clothing, Resham asserts, “We educate our clientele through representations, that is, photoshoots and content on social media. If we are shooting a garment, we make sure to represent it through different genders. Visual memory works better. The moment people see such images, they start identifying enormous possibilities in our offerings.”
Resham makes an interesting case for how Indian traditional attires are as genderless as they could be. “Tailoring was never really an Indian concept, to begin with. So if you look at any kind of drapes, Rajasthan’s kediyu, angarkhas or dhoti pants, they are not gender-specific,” she asserts, adding the age group of 28-40 has shown better response to her offerings.
Megha Rao of New York-based Holi Chic by Megha Rao shares an interesting anecdote on what made her venture into the unisex apparel space. “If my husband is wearing a blazer today, I will wear it the next day, and that’s a conversation starter”. Calling their Aabir Unisex sari blazer one of the bestsellers, the Indian-American fashion designer reveals, “Our primary clientele is from the US, UK, Canada and South Africa. I feel there is a need for this type of fashion in India.”
“Fashion has no boundaries. Fashion is for everyone. Fashion is versatile, and does not follow any particular rule. It has been exciting for our brand to introduce gender-neutral options to our audience; we love seeing how our designs break barriers and reinforce the fact that fashion is really about self-expression and what makes you feel most comfortable in. Society has added labels to clothing but we believe there are no rules in fashion,” notes Megha who owns the credit of styling actor and television personality Lily Singh who came out as bisexual in 2019.
While many argue India is yet to catch up on gender-fluid fashion, Calcutta’s Pushpak Sen, who keeps breaking gender stereotypes, drives home a valid point. “I think gender-neutral fashion has been part of Indian ethics and culture since time immemorial. In history books, there are rajas and maharajas decked up in jewellery, wearing all kinds of garments, anarkalis, angrakhas, ghagras and whatnot, and then the British came into our country and started colonising us. They brought in the archaic ideas of divide and rule in all aspects — not just religion but in all segments and tried boxing us into binaries — x person will do this, y person will do that... it’s all a result of our colonial hangover, and sadly, in South Asia, the hangover is still very much there because we are too lazy to go back to our history and read in general and use our brains to do some research. We don’t know what our forefathers or our great ancestors used to do, and now if you say this fashion is coming up, it is nothing new; it has always existed. It is just that queer people are claiming their spaces. And what is fashion? Fashion is a non-living object. Fashion is a phenomenon and an extension of your personality. Most importantly, it comprises inanimate and non-living objects, and the last time I checked, non-living objects like a table, can you tell the gender of a table? If you can’t, how can you tell the gender of a cloth or your piece of earring? Louis the XV back in history would come to his tennis court in all those fancy clothes, face powder, rouged cheeks and wigs, and suddenly, you are going OMG! men are wearing makeup — men have been wearing makeup since forever when they go for dance, theatre or any performances. Thanks to the queer people that we have been able to make everyone acknowledge our presence and what we bring to the people when it comes to fashion aesthetics, arch, culinary, history, culture or whatever.”
An avid lover of handloom saris, Pushpak shares their experience of walking the streets of Milan in a sari. “I feel a sari is not just a garment… it is the finest artistry we can offer to the world. That’s how I started wearing it. The reception has been fantastic. People would be excited to see me in a sari because they would find me very exotic. They would love the fact that I was not trying to be European. I was always a hardcore Indian in my own way. And I love wearing homegrown brands. I feel the most confident when I am in a sari. My spine gets straightened up, my shoulders broadened, I feel so powerful... and my favourite kind of weave would always be anything handloom, be it a khadi sari, a Banarasi or anything handspun... it contains a lot of love.”
Talking about if they have got a similar kind of reception in Calcutta with their ‘unique’ sartorial choices, the Polimoda alumnus says, “I feel wearing sari is much safer in Calcutta than in a state in the northern part of India and this comes from the fact that we Bengalis have always been open to new ideas, new thoughts and new concepts. In general, I think Calcutta is way more progressive than other contemporary cities.”
Pictures courtesy: The brands and Pushpak Sen
