The rise of genderless fashion in India

Anyone who is aware of current data on brain sex differences appreciates that there is no such thing as a monolithic 'male brain' or 'female brain,' in much the same way as there is no such thing as a male heart and a female heart — Lise Eliot, neuroscientist and author of Pink Brain, Blue Brain: How Small Differences Grow Into Troublesome Gaps — And What We Can Do About It.

Science doesn't assign gender or sexuality to the nervous system, but brain workings of many 'straight' people on seeing a boy wear pink or a girl sport a boy cut hairdo sans dolling up is conditioned to stereotype them as 'queer'. Conversely, the prejudiced lot is also gobsmacked when people outside the cisgendered heterosexual realm don't dress as flamboyantly as the cliché suggests. While androgynous fashion (style that combines both masculine and feminine characteristics) raised many eyebrows a couple of years ago, now making it look like a prototype for a much freer future is the realm of the gender neutral/fluid/genderless fashion. Where the wearer doesn't distinguish between salwar-kameez and Bandhgala suit, when choosing what to wear. For them, both male and female garments are sexless and have no gender.

In the West and in Japan, gender fluid fashion has the support of many biggies. Ziggy Stardust (David Bowie) "really sang, (with) screwed up eyes and screwed down hairdo", as did Prince and Boy George, the latter more androgynous. UK's leading department store Selfridges came out with a non-binary space, Agender, where clothes are stacked only as per colour, fit and style. H&M's unisex line, Uni, launched last year, was much appreciated, though Zara's unisex attempt, Ungendered, in 2015, was thrashed for being too masc...where are the skirts or dresses, complained the grousers. Japan has a thriving genderless subculture, its 2016 Genderless Kei over social media being a case in point. In other news, last year, MTV movie & TV awards rendered all award categories.

Meanwhile in India...

Gender-fluid fashion is still viewed as a 'trend', in India, and propagated by mostly the LGBTQ+ community, especially gender non-conforming identities. Although, India is catching up slowly as the recent Lakme Fashion Week Winter-Festive 2018 curated a #gender-bender segment showcasing four design labels that only create gender-neutral clothes. Anaam had Divya Dureja, a queer activist/poet, presiding over the Biblical 'Last Supper' setting with six 'disciples'/ queer models (including a trans FTM (Female To Male) woman who's underwent breast removal surgery), parading or adjusting the cinch and knots on each other's garments. The Pot Plant 100% Human line, saw models exchange their coats and jackets after every few minutes with the other gender. Bloni had models in black-and-white longish, fitted silhouettes frozen as statues with the galaxy screened on their bodies. Ayushman Mitra of Bobo Calcutta did a live painting of his signature 'two faces kissing' motif that glimmered on his highly-colourful, glitzy garments worn by gender-fluid artist Durga Gawde in a tub, flanked by other models, all engaged in a slow serenade.

Mumbai-based label Chola showed its Bye Felicia line (bye to labels and judgments) on a drag theme with mainly queer models, like Mr Gay World 2014 winner Sushant Divgikar, who sang in a male and female voice. Showstopper, actor Prateik Babbar, sashayed in a typical Chola with eccentric layered black, white and grey (to symbolize the inbetween) outfit in a half moustache and beard, with makeup artist Jason Arnold as his bride, looking pretty in tulle top and skirt of tiers and ruffles. Male models sported red lips and the female, moustaches, and all wore Roma Narsinghani's eye-glass jewellery pieces, signifying the veil that lets us see only what we want to.

For the designers, the calling to make gender-fluid garments began from questioning their own gender and sexuality. Or gauging from personal life experiences. For instance, Sumiran Kabir Sharma feels like a woman on waking up at times. It's this fluidity that made him resonate with muslin, a garment that the fashion industry only looks at as a test fit, like a replica of the final silhouette. He used this fabric extensively in his W/F '18 collection. "I see muslin fits as a fluid gender. Like when people point to me and say 'you're neither a man nor a woman...you're wearing one earring...you're somewhere in the middle.' The muslin fit represents that queerness," says Sumiran, whose fluid silhouettes are a result of directly draping the fabric on his body to create a new design instead of sketching it. Moreover, brought up by a more masc-looking single-mom, who'd carry a gas cylinder on her own always inspires him to encompass the varieties of "beautifully synced genders" in his designs. "I saw a man in Kutch wear a rani pink kurta, kajal and jewelry. He isn't aware of queer fashion or gender neutrality. The more we move towards cities, the concepts of blue for boys and pink for girls, become pronounced," says Sumiran. "The fluidity is in our mythology. Look at Ardhanarishvara (a composite of Lord Shiva and consort Parvati). The British brought in patterns and trousers and did away with the drapes," he reasons.

Anaam's assistant stylist Mayank Choudhary, who attended the show in a black sari-like silhouette with knee-high slit, his dad's white shirt and a silver Tibetan neckpiece, says the whole street stopped and stared. "No one said anything to me, but they looked curious. This shows that there will be a time when no will question your fashion sense..."

Resham Karmchandani, co-founder of design label The Pot Plant, says she's grew up with hand-me-down shirts and shorts from her father and brother, and it hasn't mattered to her what gender section in a clothing store she picks up her clothes from. "Gender-neutrality is not a one-day thing, and that's what our design line reflect. We've done easy anti-fit straight-line silhouettes – separates, pants, shirts, lightweight jackets, kurtas that you can sleep in or wash a 100 times..." She even views India's craft traditions as gender fluid. "Any gender can wear bandhni, ikat, and weaves. That's why we always explore a craft in our collections. This time we did clamp time from Bhuj with block prints," she says, adding, "When we open a store in future, it won't have seperate sections for menswear or women's wear."

Likewise, Mitra of Boho Calcutta says that his Ludicrous Legacy hand-embroidered line, is influenced by post-modernist Japanese hues and structure, Cubist motifs, and Berlin's fashion and night life scenes. On his Instagram page he says "...knowingly or unknowingly we have all at some point formed opinions about people's choices without understanding the context of their personality or appearance. This collection is a celebration of individual choices – of the ludicrous legacies that people leave behind."

Echoing Mitra is Akshat Bansal of Bloni, who with his bespoke label wants to inculcate gender neutral norms despite the prevalent discrimination in clothing choices. "It's all in our head; how and what one should be like... all because of our growing up and circumstances." His layered-up, athleisure and hand tailored wear made mostly from econyl – a marine plastic waste – with fine detailing like faggoting, is intended for a playful mix-and-match deal. Pointing to his collection he says, "That top on her can be worn as a dress and his dhoti pants can be pulled up to become a dress altogether. If you take out the collar band from his shirt, it becomes a dri-fit Tshirt for the gym. I don't restrict myself to making only men or women collections. With this collection, you can just share your clothes as a couple."

But non-acceptance is from both sides. For instance, Vogue faced backlash from the LGBTQ+ community after its gender-bending July 2017 cover, which featured model-singer couple Gigi Hadid and Zayn Malik, instead of, what critics stated, should've been people who identified as non-binary or gender-fluid.

That genderless fashion is positioned as a trend irks a few, like fashion's rebel child, Kolkata-based designer Kallol Datta. The kohl-wearing designer, often spotted with a hand fan, says, "Just because you make a man wear a dress, it's not gender bending or a woman wear a tuxedo, is not androgyny. That's myopic. You can't expect cisgender straight designers use cisgender straight models and then talk about the queer community and gender politics. If someone chooses to showcase something on someone, they need to find what the current scenario is socially and politically."

Even straight men are yet not inclined to experiment with the feminine wardrobe. "Many of the boys who wear my clothes are gay. I don't see straight men in India wearing my skirts or frill tops, yet," says Sohaya Mishra of Chola about her linen, organic cotton, and recycled cotton line. No hetero male takers for her detachable/adjustable placket sleeves tops either.

Unisex for starters

To intercede for the gender-conformists wanting to engage with this dialogue, there's the Boys Equal Girls tee launched last year by Mixx. The brand collaborated with The Pot Plant label to let the models pair this tee with the garments from the 100% Human collection showcased at LFW. The tee resonates with everyone for its words – Let's ditch the binary, the codes, the roles, the rules, the expectations, the 'boys don't cry', 'sit like a girl', 'act like a lady', crap. Let's shake it down, let's mix things up, let's send girls to Mars, let's turn boys into the best dads they can be. Let gender not be the end(er) to potential and possibilities. This Mumbai-based brand – whose name Mixx is actually honorific for non-binary individuals who reject Mr, Mrs or Ms – promotes gender-neutral parenting, and conducts events like the recent Mind the Gap, which discussed gender equality in professions and workplaces. "We realised there's an entire urban population wanting to stand for equality, but don't know where to start. This tee can be their 'okay, this is my first step to first understand gender, and then the difference between sex and gender'. We kept the design simple because we are already in a complicated space," says co-founder Shruti Singhi, who says they've had buyers from Indore, Assam, Gurgaon, more straight than queer buyers, including a 60-year-old woman who bought two tees for her 12-year-old niece, one that will fit her now, and one when she outgrows this one.

Many jerseys, cowl neck tees and shirts in mill woven and handspun cotton, khadi and matka silk fabrics from Lakme Gen Next designer Lars Andersson's W/F '18 sustainable collection are unisex. His biggest inspiration are the sadhus who worship Lord Shiva at Pashupati temple in Kathmandhu. "They're sort of genderless, only their beard makes them masculine, but aesthetically stunning with their makeup and lungis that they sometimes pair with oversized T-shirts..." But for genderless fashion to be normalised in India, he feels other graver issues must first be addressed. "Here, a woman is still expected to behave like a 'woman' and a man, a 'man', homosexuality is illegal, a guy and girl still can't hold hands in public..."