SEX, SEXUALITY & FASHION

By Bhavika Jain

When we’re born, clothing typically reflects our gender – boys are in blue and girls in pink. But as we grow older and begin to develop likes and dislikes, what we are left with can drastically change. With gender fluidity and the greater social acceptance of transgender individuals, our mainstream ideas of man and woman based on clothing alone is no longer the best identifier. What ends up happening is that we utilize fashion as the self-expression needed to convey our genders, whether actual or desired, to the world.

Fashion is a way of taking hold of our sexuality and presenting it in the manner of our choosing. To me, that’s the beauty of fashion and its relationship to sexuality. We can go to a city like Milan, one day view a Dolce & Gabbana show and the next view Miuccia Prada. Both of them are designing in 2021, and both have such different ideas about women and the way that they want to be seen in terms of gender.

It’s also possible to desexualize clothing. We see this when we start talking about uniforms and even some of the things that Miuccia Prada has done. She has been very influenced by uniforms and has a very complex relationship with fashion as someone with a long history in feminism.

Androgynous fashion has been a common thing in the West since ’70 and ’80. From Freddie Mercury to David Bowie, the musicians and actors have always been gender-neutral with their clothing without thinking twice, which has continued in a much broader aspect now.

With Harry Styles and Matty Healy wearing skirts and dresses almost on a daily basis, the West has continued the tradition of androgynous style. Coming to Bollywood, the actors have unknowingly embraced gender-neutral clothing in the ’80s and ’90s through their choice of colors and style of clothing. Now, actors like Ranveer Singh and Jim Sarbh have embraced the art of androgynous fashion in their own way. 

In simpler words, androgynous fashion is something that suits the taste of both genders. It has been making quite a noise on the red carpets and runways across the world. Thus, decoding genderless fashion is the future of the industry.