Clothing, colour, profession, and hobbies are among the many things that should not be associated with any gender but still are. We have hindered ourselves from exploring them in their entirety by confining ourselves to gender boundaries.
The moment a man wears a saree or a woman excels in a profession dominated by men, we tag them as ‘misfits’. But this guy isn’t affected by the ‘log kya kahenge’ ideology and is even rooting to normalize watching men in skirts.
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Jainil Mehta who is an artist and loves to dance is taking over the streets of New York City in colourful skirts as part of the #meninskirts series to make clothing more inclusive. Mehta feels that every person should be free to dress up their way.
Hence, the choreographer is often seen dancing to the trending tunes of Bollywood music in the American city outside his home.
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Captioning one of his videos, Mehta said that he began his dance journey when he was just 7-years-old.
“I used to steal my mother’s dupattas and skirts, lock the room, play some romantic music and twirl. I never realised why I locked myself up – probably because I felt it was strange for men to wrap around a skirt or cloth around the waist.
 I started wearing skirts in my dances. Dance has always made me feel secure and known and this was the perfect way for me to face my fear and the society.”
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His love for skirts and lehengas emerged in childhood.
“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, and 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!”
From dancing inside a closed room wearing skirts fearing judgements, to moving to New York to study dance professionally and then gracing the streets in beautiful skirts, he has sure come a long way.
“At 18, I moved to LA to study dance professionally. Even though I learnt mixed forms, I never abandoned my thought of wearing skirts. 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!”
“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 added.
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Here are some more of his fab dances in even more gorgeous lehengas.
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People are in awe of his moves and the commendable ideology behind his #meninskirts campaign.
He is just splendid and I definitely want to own those easy, breezy and beautiful skirts. You go, Jainil!