The notion that clothing is an expression of our personality and belongs to one gender is a social construct that needs disassembling. In essence, gender-fluid fashion isn’t limited by the traditional “menswear” and “womenswear” binary. Instead, the idea is that any given outfit completely disregards the association between pants and men, skirts and women. The gist of the matter is people should feel free to wear whatever they find comfortable.
Yet the societal constructs prohibit us to do so.
This has been challenged and very well smashed by an Indian guy who has been seen twirling and dancing in skirts on the streets of New York City.
Named Jainil Mehta, the guy who is originally from Mumbai happens to be a choreographer. He has been grooving to several Bollywood songs over the past few weeks with the social media hashtag #meninskirts.
Check out his video which has been going viral all over the internet.
What drew Jainil to gender-fluid fashion
The dancer revealed that he has had a knack for dancing ever since he was a child which led him to take up dance classes.
“I was 5 when I 1st danced to the Bollywood song with my house help in the kitchen. In no time, I made the living room my stage & before I realized, I’d fallen in love with dancing. My mom saw a raging passion in me & at 7, I started taking dance training,” Jainil shared.
From a tender age, Jainil was fascinated with skirts and Indian women’s clothing. But he wasn’t very confident, so he would lock himself up while trying them. But he was not conscious of his choice, but very open-minded.
“One day, I watched a Bollywood film, where the actress was dancing in a lehenga. I was awestruck by its flair & thought, ‘I wish I had a lehenga like that too!’ So I ran towards my mom’s closet, pulled out a long skirt. It was my 1st instance of wearing a skirt & it felt like nothing could make me happier than twirling to bollywood songs in lehengas!
That time, I’d made sure to lock my room – probably because I was afraid to be caught by my mom for stealing her skirts. But, the thought of ‘boys don’t wear skirts’ never crossed my mind. But as I grew older, fear of publicly wearing skirts crept in & I was hesitant to wear them,” he narrated.
To his surprise, all his doubts were in vain for his family was absolutely delighted to see him carrying the clothing, and dance form so well. His grandfather even pushed him to pursue dance as a profession.
“Few weeks later, my family saw me & they were just delighted to see me pull off skirts so effortlessly that my dadaji said, ‘I feel you should pursue dancing as career’. Their support made me feel comfortable wearing skirts. I felt absolutely gorgeous when I danced in lehengas!” the choreographer said.
Next Jainil set out to live his dreams and moved to LA to study dance. It is there when he took up the courage to wear the skirt and perform in public space and post it online as well.
“At 18, I moved to LA to study dance professionally. Even though I learned mixed forms, I never abandoned my thought of wearing skirts. During my education, I learnt to be freer in my thoughts & speech. So, I randomly decided to use social media to face my fear of wearing skirts & started posting my videos. I thought, ‘I want to be that carefree child again’” Jainil told.
This was a major feat for him and he is glad to have voiced men like him. He also thanked people who praised him while he danced in the US cities.
“Unknowingly I’d also become the voice of so many men who supported gender neutral clothing, couldn’t talk about it. It was a bold move but when during one of my shoots on the streets, an Indian family just stopped by & watched me with pride in their eyes & said that, ‘people like you make us proud of our culture!’, that was enough for me to keep going!” added the Indian dancer.
“Today, I’m living my dream life in NYC, doing what I love the most for a living -create & perform! Well, it wasn’t an easy journey, but all I want to say is that – ‘People will always ask questions, so why not answer with some flair & grace to their stereotypes?’” he concluded.
More about Jainil Mehta
Jainil Mehta is currently a company dancer with Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company and is also teaching, creating, and performing as a freelancer.
By now Jainil has self-produced, choreographed, and directed three productions in Mumbai. This includes Big Wild’s music video “6’s to 9’s” and Falguni Pathak’s “Jode Rahejo Raaj”. Before moving to Los Angeles for college, he trained at Shiamak Davar International in Mumbai, India for thirteen years. He graduated from Summa Cum Laude and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance with a Discovery Scholars Distinction.
Besides this, Jainil has taught many dance classes online and in-person across India as well as Pakistan, China, Singapore, United Kingdom, Europe, Australia and the United States to over 1000+ students. Jainil wants to create the first-ever accredited higher education dance program in India through the global exchange, interdisciplinary learning, and partnerships.
Jainil’s goal is to give dancers, and creators a chance to develop their own artistic choices and art-making process, hence helping them create a unique identity and career for themselves.