Male harness: Is this the latest ‘it’ fashion accessory?
It is a bib, or a tie? Or is it a vest? Oh no, wait... it is a harness! The red carpet is an alternate, delightful dais, besides fashion weeks, to spot nouveau trends and to brush up one’s sartorial diction. And this time the boys stole the flashlight with the hashtag-worthy accessory: male harness or as the high fashion brands have now clarified — the embroidered bib. Actor Michael B Jordan bewildered viewers at the recent Screen Actors’ Guild awards by slipping a purple floral harness over a classic doublereasted tux while ctor Timothee halamet wore a littery black iece to the Golden Globes ast month. And Jordan’s co-star, the Black Panther lead, Chadwick Boseman was seen rocking a hiny white umber over is ecru suit, at ne of the red arpets, last year. Stylist Rishi Raj ays, “Sex and ashion have lways shared a eep connection. I ften jest that how ell you are ressed can be easured by how uickly someone ants to undress you. It is heartening to see that while until now women were supposed to look like sex goddesses on the red carpet, it’s the men who are becoming more adventurous and expressive without having to show endless amounts of skin.”
Abe Samuel, Jordan’s stylist, called the look “classics with a twist” on Instagram, while Jordan explained his decision by telling Variety: “Why not? It was just like f–k it. I’m going to do it.” However, for stylist, Nitasha Gaurav, the male harness is just a fad. “It won’t sustain for long.” She also feels that to don a harness over formalwear is not a new phenomenon as in early 2000s women were seen flaunting it. “It doesn’t add anything to the garment,” she says.
Fashion designer Swapnil Shinde says that he always has been referring to a lot of bondage referencing in his collections. “The whole idea of caged bodies is liberating. Restraint triggers the beauty of freedom. It suggests how we have become acceptable to a diverse point of view.” Fashion designer Kunal Rawal, too, confesses that he is a “huge fan of harnesses” as it falls “totally in my aesthetic”.
Ask Shinde if the red carpet trend will spill over to the Indian scene and he nods, “Yes, India as a (fashion) audience is getting more acquainted with global trends. Red carpet in India will soon be entrapped in this quirky detailing as a lot of young Bollywood is dating and experimenting with their looks.”
With this quirky/kinky accessory, fashion is surely dipping its toes into the S&M style movement, and Rishi says, “This tongue-in-cheek suggestion of BDSM at a formal event is a great way of spicing things up. And given that the majority of male celebrities end up in boring black tuxedos, the harness trend can act as a newage accessory and add some variety.”