‘I really can’t give clothes gender’

Bad Bunny has spoken candidly about his relationship with fashion and why he doesn’t let any of his clothes be defined by “a gender”.

The 28-year-old singer, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, discussed his approach to picking out an outfit during an interview with GQ, which saw him pose on the cover of the magazine’s June/July issue. According to Bad Bunny, his style is subject to change and cannot be described as “masculine” or “feminine,” regardless of what he wears.

“It depends on my state of mind,” he explained. “Everybody has to feel comfortable with what they are, and how they feel. Like, what defines a man, what defines being masculine, what defines being feminine? I really can’t give clothes gender.”

“To me, a dress is a dress,” he continued. “If I wear a dress, would it stop being a woman’s dress? Or vice versa? Like, no. It’s a dress, and that’s it. It’s not a man’s, it’s not a woman’s. It’s a dress.”

The Puerto-Rican rapper was then asked about the inspiration for his Met Gala outfit this year, for which the dress code was “gilded glamour, white tie” and the theme was “In America: An Anthology of Fashion”. He said that once he heard the theme, he knew he wanted to wear something inspired by Latin America “because it’s America too”.

At the gala earlier this month, Bad Bunny arrived on the red carpet in a tan puff-sleeved jacket and skirt, worn over a blue collared shirt and black tie. The look was designed by Burberry’s Riccardo Tisci and created in honour of men and women’s fashion in Puerto Rico during the Gilded Age.

During the interview, he also addressed some of the stereotypes he’s faced as a reggaeton artist, as people have assumed that his music would be the “manliest” and that he would “dress” a particular way because of it.

“Latino culture is very machista,” he explained. “So, that’s why I think everything that I’ve done has been even more shocking.… Urban Latin music, reggaeton, is a genre where you have to be the manliest, the baddest. That’s why it’s the most shocking too.”

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“But why? If I dress this way, I can’t sing this way? Or if I dress like this, I can’t listen to this type of music?” he added.

Following the release of his GQ cover, fans on social media have praised the Yonaguni singer.

“I never purchased magazines until Bad Bunny started being on the covers of them,” one person tweeted.

“The way I ran so fast to get this,” another said, responding to a tweet of the cover shared by the outlet.

A third person tweeted: “I need Bad Bunny’s GQ cover all over my wall STAT.”

Bad Bunny has previously opened up about fashion sense and his thoughts on gender stereotypes. During an interview with Allure last November, he recalled that, when as a child, he loved getting clothes with mother and seeing the different colour “combinations” in the women’s department.

“Going shopping with my mom was one of my favourite things because I would get lost in the women’s department, seeing the combinations, the colours, the cuts, the designs,” he recalled.

However, he acknowledged that when it was his turn to pick things out in the boy’s department, it was “boring as hell” for him.

“The same jeans and T-shirts, jeans and T-shirts in different sizes. The women had it all!” he said. “For women there are so many different types, colours, shapes, designs…. And what do men get? A beat-up old wallet to stuff in your pocket.”