Is Madonna’s son the new face of gender-fluid fashion? Move over Harry Styles – 16-year-old David Banda wears anything from Adidas x Gucci dresses and black tuxedos to Elsa Schiaparelli womenswear

Sep 1 , 2022

David Banda and mum Madonna are both bona fide trailblazers. Photos: @madonna/Instagram

Not just following in the footsteps of his music legend mum, Banda joins the likes of Harry Styles, Lewis Hamilton, Lil Nas X and Pete Davidson in subverting fashion norms with androgynous style

Adopted as a child from Malawi, the 16-year-old model wears Madonna’s Mae Couture dresses around the house and broke the internet when he twinned with her in Adidas in May

Just like his iconic mother did 20 years before he was even born, Madonna’s son David Banda is also subverting norms and breaking down barriers.

David Banda isn’t the first man to wear a skirt, and thanks to his championing of gender-fluid fashion, certainly won’t be the last. Photo: Captured from Instagram

The 16-year-old footballer and aspiring artist appears to be embracing a more gender-fluid personal style of late, proudly strutting in dresses and designer womenswear brands at high-profile events – often with his fashion-forward mum by his side.

Madonna has been making fashion statements and ripping up rule books her whole life – her son David Banda relishes doing the same. Photo: @madonna/Instagram

One of Banda’s more recent gender-bending fashion forays almost broke the internet when, back in May, he wore a form-fitting red dress from the Adidas x Gucci collection, a design inspired by the outfit that Madonna herself wore to the 1993 premiere of Sleepless in Seattle.

So how else is Banda ripping up the style rule book … and what is gender-fluid fashion, exactly?

Gender fluidity isn’t new – but it’s having a moment

Gender-fluid style is nothing new. It’s existed for thousands of years, with gender-neutral garb like togas and tunics the norm in Ancient Greece and Rome. In the 60s and 70s, sex symbols like David Bowie and Mick Jagger were frequently seen on album covers and on stage in hyper-feminine, frilly frocks, while Annie Lennox and Grace Jones rocked the androgynous look with buzzcuts and powersuits.

Although it’s been around since time immemorial, it’s undoubtedly enjoying something of a revival right now. Everyone from Banda to Jaden Smith and Lil Nas X, Pete Davidson to Kid Cudi, Lewis Hamilton to NBA players Jordan Clarkson and Russell Westbrook have been happy to walk the red carpet in androgynous garments.

Billy Porter arriving at the Oscars in 2019 in a stunning Christian Siriano tuxedo gown. Photo: LA Times/TNS

But not everyone is celebrating mainstream media jumping on board fashion’s gender-fluid moment. After Harry Styles donned a dress for the cover of US Vogue, actor Billy Porter – who is an openly gay star who famously wore a Christian Siriano tuxedo gown to the Oscars – criticised the former One Direction star, saying: “I created the conversation [about androgynous fashion] and yet Vogue still put Harry Styles, a straight white man, in a dress on their cover for the first time.”

Harry Styles is regularly spotted in what have traditionally been thought of as women’s clothes, but was criticised by actor Billy Porter. Photo: @harrystyles/Instagram