knowing exactly what you want it to wear
today how many of you changed outfits
did anyone choose to wear a dress
instead of pants or pens instead of a
dress now why would you choose to do
that perhaps you were more comfortable
but what led you to this comfortable and
have you ever thought of the
circumstances that have occurred in
order for you to dress the way that you
do I was educated in design at a school
in New York where I was told that my
options for exploring apparel design
were restricted to menswear and
womenswear puzzled by the strict divide
between the two I chose to focus my
thesis collection on exploring the
possibilities that lay in the gap
between the third gender has existed in
Indian society since the 18th century
other we say women they say neither male
nor female identifying as both neither
or combination these are the individuals
that lead a revolution in dress in
thought in the way that we weave one
another these are the individuals that
above all stay true to their identity I
was really inspired by a third gender
the way in which they choose to dress is
by us by wearing women’s wear but we as
a society refer to them as other and all
the third inspired by this combining
elements of menswear and womenswear
using materials like wool suiting men’s
shirting to create exaggerated shapes
with beaded embroideries my thesis
collection identity is an exploration if
the role that clothing plays in forming
an individual’s identity beyond the norm
clothing is very interesting so
there are differences between men’s and
women’s were the reason for this their
anatomical differences which are obvious
and then there are also technical
differences and the reason for these
technical differences are age-old so say
a men’s shirt has buttons on the left
side and a woman’s shirt has buttons on
the right side but this is because when
back in the day men used to carry a gun
on the left side so it was easy for them
to access it and then women had Mane’s
that would bind them that bun their
shirts for them how I understand the
utility reasons behind this however I
don’t think that the I always questioned
this the relevance of this in fashion
today when I was a child my mother loved
dressing my brothers and I in the same
outfit and at the time I didn’t really
think anything of it it was only when
she made me wear it dresses and my
brothers were still wearing what they
always wore that I began began to
question why was it that they didn’t
wear the dresses and why was it that we
had to wear different clothes at times
and why couldn’t we share the same
silhouettes and this was something that
stuck with me through different parts of
my life and so when I came to my thesis
collection the way that I went about
designing it was creating traditional
pieces of clothing and then taking them
apart to re-examine the components that
actually make it what it is and putting
the pieces of the puzzle back together
again so shirt becomes a blouse and a
dhothi becomes a skirt and a Patiala
pyjama becomes a talk what’s interesting
about menswear and womenswear is that
they have always had this constant
dialogue and they always take from one
another in terms of little details or
shape but the rise of gender fluid
fashion is changing this conversation I
worked with an embroidery unit and they
helped to embroider pattern
and construct the garments and important
this they wore their garments and stood
tall for them they didn’t see it as
clothing that was gender specific they
saw it as clothing open to the
interpretation of the wearer and while
we were shooting the collection we went
onto the streets of Kolkata and that’s
where we were approached by a few
passerby they went up to the artisans
and asked them about their experience
and said that we the people that were
taking the imagery we’re taking
advantage of them dressing them up as
women and making fun of them but these
artisans didn’t seemed fazed by it to
them they were enjoying the moment they
were embracing the person that they were
in that clothing traditionally there
have been two genders but tradition is
holding us back the spaces in between
are filled with individuals
experimenting in experence
breaking the boundaries imposed on them
by the genders assigned at Birth by the
people defining them as a designer I
have committed myself to exploring the
possibilities that lie in the gaps
between having sat on the sidelines
today they begin to be accepted the
third we say individuals visually
expressing their experience of life on
their own terms fashion has been a
vehicle for them to experiment and
explore the spectrum of gender into a
life that is their reality into an
identity that is theirs fashion is not
just theirs it’s yours the spectrum is
waiting
[Applause] you