By Riya Jain | June 21, 2022, 16:22 IST

Shakil Solanki 

As a full-time artist, Shakil Solanki, who grew up in Cape Town, South Africa, creates work intended, in his own words, to “interrogate and contemplate the many dynamics of queer intimacy visually and conceptually”. A trained printmaker, he’s always informed by his South Asian heritage. “I’m a rather meticulous person,” he says of his fashion sense. “My clothing is usually just a tiny bit more vocal than I am.” His goal? “Often, to leave the house with a snatched waist.”

His daily wardrobe is built around formals and staples, a bite of play with statement pieces. “The mere act of putting on a piece of clothing can be quite radical,” he says. “There is some power to be found in that very direct assertion of identity.”

He means it. “Queer style is a corporeal extension and expression of our most intimate self, communicated by the ever-shifting clothes on our bodies,” he says. “These sartorial gestures become armour of sorts; queer style becomes a type of tangible validation It protects, while also signalling our queerness to the rest of the world.

Shakil loves that dual purpose nature of fashion. “I find this intersection the most interesting; when I feel my most fabulous, I also feel most vulnerable.”

Sagar Kadam 

“I see everything as art,” says Mumbai based model and stylist Sagar Kadam. A textile design graduate and trained aerialist, he’s talking about his journey with fashion. As a stylist – seamlessly marrying silhouettes separated by binary labels, he references his style as “minimalist maximalist.” A cocktail of prints, patterns, and silhouettes.

At the top of Sagar’s fashion notes? Fluidity and authenticity. “Putting it out there that all clothes are unisex,” he says. “If you are able to carry any piece of clothing whether menswear or womenswear and it looks good, you feel good about it – take it!”

“Queer style is more like a way of expression through clothing because it gives you a sense of liberation. It’s a sense of pride, and also it's important because it allows you to express who you are, and what you want to be. As they say: dress the way you like to be addressed.”

Muskaan Bisaria 

She’s an actor and model by profession, but Pune-based Muskaan can also be heard singing as she plays her ukulele or giving stick-and-poke tattoos. “Being able to create keeps me sane,” she quips.

Swiftly alternating between what can be labelled as ‘overtly feminine’ to ‘masculine’, Muskaan’s personal style is effortless and free. As she puts it, “genders are only social constructs.” Being comfortable and feeling empowered are at the top of her agenda. “Whether it was constantly wearing pants to school or shaving my hair off last year, fashion has given me a medium to express how I feel about myself and my individuality much more.”

“Queer style means freedom,” she says. “To be who you are unapologetically, even if it keeps changing on the outside or inside and it's okay to struggle with it at times.”