2019 – Are Indian Men Ready To Wear Gender Neutral Fashion?

Prior to 2015, you were more likely to hear about androgynous fashion than gender neutral fashion in India. Androgynous gender expression sits right in centre of a spectrum described as masculine and feminine on polar opposites. Androgynous clothing was largely pictured as cross dressing where women slipped into mens suits on ramps and men wore ladies sweaters to corporate Fridays. Unlike gender-binary notions of “unisex” or “androgyny”, fashion’s gender neutral revolution of 2015 challenged the very gender tags attached to a particular style. Gender neutrality looked beyond binary to recognise gender non-binary. However, are Indian men ready to wear gender neutral fashion?

 

GENDER NEUTRAL FASHION – TRENDING AMONG INDIAN MEN

When it comes to forecasting the fashion trends of India, the last decade has shown a clear pattern where Western trends take roughly up to a year to three – to be manufactured locally, and for the trends to trickle down in ramps. It may take more time for all that jazz to be marketed, and further trickle down to masses. In 2016, Ranveer Singh wore septum ring and pussy bow blouse on L’Officiel cover – most powerful gender fluid statement from a male celebrity in India yet.

By 2017, gender fluidity was buzzing hot on desi Instagram. By 2018, gender neutral statements were omnipresent on runways. And in that backdrop of events, I even got an opportunity to discuss my journey towards gender neutral fashion at TEDxChennai.

 

INDIAN MEN AREN’T READY TO WEAR DRESSES, NOT YET!

Bummer! Even among the women, not every Indian is comfortable in Western silhouettes like bifurcated jeggings or corset gowns. What works in homogeneous Western cultures need not necessarily work in heterogeneous Indian society. Gender neutrality is otherwise inherent in DNA of familiar mens styles like kurta pajama.

Pushkar Vaze (@thefashionpush)

“When it comes to traditional outfits, Indian men and women share kurtas, lungis and dhotis with ease. They are comfortable in bright, draped shawls, and they even wear embroidered mojaris. As a culture, we’re also used to seeing men wear pearls and jewels for weddings. Western men would normally shy away from even a brooch, forget a necklace.” – Wendell Rodricks

 

Indian subcontinent has a rich history of silhouettes, jewellery, grooming, and makeup that are largely gender neutral. Most draped silhouettes that Indians wore prior to colonial period were chiefly gender neutral in nature. Think dhoti pants, think cowl kurta – worn with headgears, brooch and statement accessories. Shantanu & Nikhil menswear. Wendell Rodricks lungis. TarunTahiliani drapes. Kallol Dutta, Antar Agni and Arjun Saluja are few other names that immediately pops in my head. India has a far richer gender neutral clothing history than Western world, and it’s very important on a cultural scale to build upon the indigenous elements of gender neutrality.

 

WHAT IF INDIAN FASHION TRENDS TRICKLE UP THAN JUST TRICKLE DOWN?

Designers who skip fashion history books and jump straight into trend books are more like those doctors who never attended medical school and yet, diagnose you Googling symptoms. The formula so far has been – wrap elitist cultural values with Western influences and you get what’s marketed as fashion in India. The design direction for Athleisure fiasco in Indian fashion was such that not only the silhouettes were directly borrowed from trend books of West but interpretations remained largely elitist too. Despite trending for more than half a decade, Indian version of athleisure or modest fashion often ignored the Real_MVP… The most popular leisurewear garments of the subcontinent – lungi & nighties! What if the mass costume culture trickles up to influence high fashion trends to question status quo? That direction takes you beyond the controlled imaginations of elitism. Will ruffled dresses become a societal normalcy for Indian men in 2019? No sure if we’re there yet, but an effective route to destruct gender constructs is to reconstruct the inherent gender neutrality of known silhouettes.

45 responses to “2019 – Are Indian Men Ready To Wear Gender Neutral Fashion?”

  1. apnahumsafar avatar
    apnahumsafar

    great information ………

    thank you so much…….

  2. Sylvester Balchunas avatar
    Sylvester Balchunas

    Great fashion blog and I appreciate it. Good Luck!

  3. Aamir Wisal avatar
    Aamir Wisal

    Awesome blog I have ever seen.I daily visit your blog and everytime I surprised.Thanks for this Wonderful read.You shared great content.Keep up the good work.Thanks for sharing.

  4. Tehreem avatar
    Tehreem

    Thanks for this Wonderful read.You shared great content.

  5. kate avatar
    kate

    Good Luck I always check you…

    1. Movie Reviews avatar
      Movie Reviews

      This is quite an interesting post and blog.

  6. John Harry avatar
    John Harry

    thank you for sharing it. It is awsome and all Indian should wear such dresses, i love it

  7. vicky avatar
    vicky

    Very Nice content in this post.
    Thanks

  8. Rau's IAS Academy avatar
    Rau’s IAS Academy

    Nice Blog thanks for writing.

  9. Pallavi Mathur avatar
    Pallavi Mathur

    Very well written content. Love to read more articles from you.

  10. pankaj avatar
    pankaj

    Hey,

    your blog post is amazing, I love your content and website. Keep up the good work. Looking forward for more such amazing work from your side.

  11. Naveen Sohail avatar
    Naveen Sohail

    Nice article I always read your articles.

  12. Rahul Mehra avatar
    Rahul Mehra

    Hey loved your work. This is a great content i have ever read. I am waiting for your more post on men’s fashion.

  13. Karan Mehra avatar

    Love what you have written here. You have very interesting thoughts. I am subscribing to your newsletter. 
    Love
    AmpourOnline.com

  14. carolin avatar

    Great content.Keep up the good work.
    Thanks for sharing…

  15. Swetak avatar
    Swetak

    Hey, This was a really different kind of article i have read so far. Looking forward to your upcoming blog posts. Keep inspiring.

  16. dev avatar
    dev

    Nice explanation for gender fashion. Looking forward to furthering articles.

  17. Debit avatar
    Debit

    Waoo !! the unique and creative concept in fashion world !

  18. Martina Roy avatar
    Martina Roy

    This is very really unique helpful information. keep it up. Thank you so much!

  19. Hannah william avatar
    Hannah william

    I love indian designs, especially sarhi. Your blog is awesome. I have found stunning design here. Thanks for sharing

  20. Rahul avatar
    Rahul

    Great design. I like all these. Thanks for sharing i want to buy

  21. arsalan6370 avatar
    arsalan6370

    these kurtas and pajamas are very common for men and women , well nice post waiting for your more post keep it up

  22. Roy avatar
    Roy

    Good Luck I always check you…

  23. My Fashion Villa avatar

    This is something new I just read here. Gender neutral fashion shows Indian Culture.

    Thank you for sharing.
    My Fashion Villa

  24. seema goyal avatar
    seema goyal

    This article is very nice and all about of fashion tread for men or women. fashion is most popular case now a days.
    It’s all about of culture different countries.
    Thank you for sharing with us.

  25. Lavanya Menon avatar
    Lavanya Menon

    Thanks for sharing this interesting information.

  26. Wo liegt Aruba avatar
    Wo liegt Aruba

    Thanks for this Wonderful read.You shared great content.

  27. Trapti avatar
    Trapti

    Right, we Indians are not so much comfortable in Western silhouettes.

  28. Vatsal Savla avatar

    True That! Great Blog!

  29. shristi patni avatar
    shristi patni

    your blog includes so much useful and informative content in such a beautiful manner.

  30. shristi patni avatar

    nice content with good informative knowledge

  31. Duasharma avatar
    Duasharma

    Great post – I like your style.

  32. Govinda Prapakaran avatar
    Govinda Prapakaran

    Wow. Just an awesome article. your creative in images and content throughout is good. Need to read more from you. Thanks for this.

  33. Promausa avatar

    !Nice discussion about an Indian fashion and gender-neutral.

  34. Lara Jain avatar
    Lara Jain

    Thanks for sharing this informative post.

  35. shalini sharma avatar

    VERY NICE BLOG. I MUST SAY THAT YOU WRITE REALLY WELL. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK.

  36. Teguh Iw avatar
    Teguh Iw

    neutral gender in fashion? ah.. i must think twice to wear it

  37. Emirates avatar
    Emirates

    !Thanks for sharing the article about gender-neutral fashion in India. I also think this is trending among Indian men. I would like to give a special thanks for here the discussion about the differences between Indian and western trends. how they shy from that which we like, kurtas, pyjamas and lungi.

  38. Akasa avatar
    Akasa

    Awesome you have great sense of fashion. Thanks for sharing.

  39. Dharm avatar
    Dharm

    something different as always,
    nice post

  40. Smith avatar
    Smith

    Absolutely disgusting. Male should stick to male stuff than female.

  41. Maryon avatar
    Maryon

    It doesnt look nice. its like gayish

  42. Raaga Heros avatar
    Raaga Heros

    Your style is fabulous. Good job, keep going!

  43. Tessy avatar
    Tessy

    Gender neutral clothes look so nice although it will take time to indian men to accept this new trend. As we all know that in India if you wear something that is not regular then people stare you like they saw an alien. I must say you have beautifully wrote this article. Thank you so much for sharing. keep it up.

  44. Hensex avatar
    Hensex

    This clothes are beautiful and especially the gender neutral clothes always look good. thanks for writing over this topic. Keep it up.

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