Have u noticed how boys on the streets, billboards, magazine covers and even on the streets are looking more and more like girls? The fashion industry has been accused of turning men into fairies. Be this true or not, the world is developing and evolving and truth is men are just becoming more & more comfortable with the bang-in-your-face kinda fashion and are just becoming more androgynous with every copy of ELLE, VOGUE, COSMOPOLITAN and ARISE that hits the shelves.
I, myself, am not sure if this is necessarily a bad thing but one thing for sure, it just looks damn sexy!!! Have u seen pictures of the runways of House of Ole, David Tlale & Ephymol? Chiffon shirts, skirts, harem pants, turbans? And now the invention of "male-heels" (or whatever term they refer to them as)?
Fashion is evolving and designers across the globe are causing a stir. Some of the pioneers of this revolution are Alexander McQueen, Lanvin, Karl Lagerfeld just to name but a few. African designers have also taken these trends to a whole new level. In a continent where a man who dare wears tight pants, or anything that hugs his oh! so beautifully sculptured silhouette is blasphemous and almost even illegal, this has surprisingly been surprisingly very well embraced.
Just the other day, in central Johannesburg, I came across a man in sequined harems, a leopard print tee (slit across his chest to reveal dark, pierced nipples), black biker leather jacket (which must have had only about a thousand zips on it) and black suede and leather loafers. This is the type of thing you only get to see on channel 184. Seeing it on the streets is nothing short of orgasmic.
This, however, has managed to cause a stir in circles even so far removed from the fashion umbrella. Does this "new" fashion trend now strip us of our "africanism" & "manhood"?
I don't know. Frankly, I don't even care! As long as those boys keep looking as good as they do, I'm one happy camper. And you know what I find ironic? The more these boys look androgynous and almost girly, the more I find it even more masculine. Makes them seem dark, mysterious, sexy and yet so vulnerable! Does that even make sense? Oh well....
Truth is, with every turn the earth takes on it's axis, the fashion keeps evolving and changing. Be it for better or worse, it's happening and we need to claim it and own it, find our identity within it and create our own revolutions.
That's what fashion is about. Well, at least for me it is!
