Breaking The Sexist Mould With Men’s Red Carpet Fashion
Red carpet fashion for men have always been a bit of a snooze-fest. With all the famous actors walking around in their black or blue suits looking more like lawyers and businessmen, even wearing a bow-tie or opting for a white jacket can create a major headline because with no style expectations, it becomes easier to charm the fans and fashion critics.
For decades there have been countless number of fashion designers who have shown interest in making alternative men’s clothing, but with the demand so low, their collections were often left ignored; once again, leaving the playing field empty.
This all took a turn when Ranveer Singh (with the help of stylist, Nitasha Gaurav) decided to shock everyone with his out-of-the-box style choices which are often gender-fluid in nature. Unsurprisingly, he received some flak for not dressing as per the norms, but mostly people were making fun of him, which can work as a good example of how unwelcome people are when someone wishes to express themselves through the medium of fashion and beauty.
But coming back to red carpet, fashion critics had almost given up before Ranveer came and made things once again interesting, and that fact inadvertently led to an upsurge in demand of interesting menswear. And while people like Shahid Kapoor, Karan Johar and Jim Sarbh are eager to jump on the bandwagon, experimenting with brighter color and prints, the overall process is rather slow.
The situation in Hollywood is not much different either; stars like Chadwick Boseman, Donald Glover and Rami Malek, have been presenting us with non-stop trendsetting looks ranging from a variety of patterns and colors which has all the fashion critics floored, as expected. And the demand for better red-carpet fashion from men continues to stay the same there as well, the only difference is that it’s on a comparatively larger scale.
Ilaria Urbinati, who styles most of Hollywood male stars has called this entire situation rather sexist and there should be no doubting her on that statement because while on one hand, female stars are repeatedly expected to look good, often torn apart in best and worst-dressed lists, when it comes to male stars it’s all overlooked. Do keep in mind that red carpet is one place that can successfully start a trend, so equality in red carpet fashion should be taken as an overall cultural issue.
In the end, it’s not about demanding your favorite stars to take a risk because at the core, fashion is about self-expression. But the overall outlook towards the blatant superficiality of red carpet could benefit from some tweaking even if it means expecting high fashion looks from men.
