What is Androgynous Fashion?

A fashion which doesn’t tag clothing with gender. The idea of genderless fashion speaks to the generation that refuses labels. Androgynous fashion is about accepting and embracing one’s own identity, rejecting labels of gender and sexuality. A fashion that is neither masculine nor feminine it’s both or none. The idea of gender-neutral fashion is appealing to the generation of social media and now every big name in the fashion industry seems to be working on their collection of androgynous ensembles.

So what is androgynous fashion?

Androgynous comes from the Latin word ‘androgyne’ and has a Greek origin. The Greek word was constructed from andras (man) and gune (woman). Pronounced AN-druh-jin, the word described a mix of male and female physical characteristics.

Undefined silhouette, experimental styling and unapologetic confidence form a part of androgynous fashion today. The concept of androgynous dressing is not new but something that the world has witnessed historically.

In India, fashion has not always been an indicator of gender. Though there were some distinctions between how men and women dressed in the royal ages, the silhouette for both genders resembled some parallelism.

The Angrakha, an asymmetrical, tunic style, upper body garment is a unisexual piece of clothing that was historically worn in the courts of royals in ancient India. In the ancient ages of monarchs, the men also bedazzled themselves with jewellery, expensive silk and exaggerated silhouette to reflect their status in society much like women. Even though gender roles existed with prevalence, the dressing was more about social status back. But with trade routes and the victorian era, the definition of gender roles and their identification with clothing became more well-defined.

Fashion has always been used as a strong tool to segregate men and women. Gender norms have always been imposed on clothes and fashion once restricted people’s expression according to their sex, it has been more structural for men than women. One such example is pants that revolutionised women's wear forever but skirts for men are still far from being an acceptable form of dressing. With time, the style evolved for women mainly but for men, it remained the same.

Today with the increase in awareness about sex and gender, fashion is also influenced by this fluid take. Non-gender clothing is paving a way for acceptance of fluidity around the globe and especially among youth who believe that resistance, resilience and reforms are the 3Rs of revolution today. Gender-neutral fashion is not only about clothing but it’s a movement that extends far beyond style. It’s a fight for acceptance as however one may like to express themselves. It’s a way of rejecting long and beheld gender segregation that gives birth to gender roles and expectations. It’s a fight for equality.