More Indian labels are making gender agnostic clothes

FT NEWS

If you are one of those fashion-savvy men who loves to experiment and someone who doesn’t conform to any gender norms while selecting an outfit, you would have certainly come across so many naysayers or trolls labelling you or calling you names. While most men remain undeterred, the others give in to the jibes.

Wearing a skirt doesn’t make a man less ‘manly’. The Indian fashion industry is going big on gender-neutral fashion by leaving no stone unturned in bringing it to the mainstream and normalizing genderless clothing.

There are so many homegrown androgynous labels that have made the right noises by adding more momentum to the gender neutrality movement. Two Point Two Studios by designer Anvita Sharma, Rishta by Arjun Saluja, Anaam by Sumiran Kabir Sharma, and Bloni by Akshat Bansal have become names to reckon with in the industry. Their brands celebrate diversity in Indian fashion by giving a strong message to us on how fashion is a form of self-expression

Despite creating the right buzz, they don’t have many takers, barring a few Indian celebrities who are the real risk-takers in the world of fashion. And even these male celebrities are not spared when they try to bend the gender rules. When someone like actor Ranveer Singh sports a skirt on the red carpet, a section of people on social media mocks the actor for not adhering to the societal norms. A recent example being singer Harry Styles wearing a dress on the cover of Vogue magazine. The singer pulled off the look with so much ease and nonchalance. He sent out a great message to everyone on blurring the gender lines. But American conservative author Candace Owens slammed the cover and wrote about it disgracefully on social media. Though Styles was backed by his friends from the fraternity, the author’s mindset only shows that a lot of us haven’t been able to come to terms with men pushing fashion boundaries.

The real problem exists within us. We need to stop labeling men for the choices they make when it comes to dressing up. Let’s not be quick to judge a man wearing too many prints together or sporting a shade of pink. We need to shun these preconceived notions and break the shackles of gender stereotypes. Let fashion be a way to express our inner self and not something that we follow blindly. While the Indian fashion fraternity is welcoming the idea of gender-benders in the industry with open arms, it’s all our mindset that needs to change.

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