THE OUTFITS that members of the Dub Traffickers poetry collective wore on their debut performance in 1997 was an indication of things to come from its founder, Rassrod.

"Dub Traffickers came up with this costume - the first one was something you draw on, like Miss Lou would wear. So our first fashion was unisex," he told The Sunday Gleaner.

Then, "during the years, my own philosophy and development, it lead to some of our fashion in the closet which is not in the closet".

Rassrod says that he is not good on names, but the outfits are the African equivalent of the Scottish kilt. And they look very much like skirts.

Ironically, he says, "The event I came out with, it was very Afrocentric, but in the middle of it, one would call me a drag queen."

i'm so different

Then last year, for a National Heroes Day performance at the Creative Production and Training Centre on Arnold Road, Kingston, Rassrod not only wore one of the outfits to do a poem called 'National Men Switch', but also had his hair "catch up in two. I looked like a little playful girl.

"Everybody know I am so different. Those who don't know me, they will probably say that outfit no look so straight. Dem a wonder if I am straight because I am playing this persona. And it is not restricted to the stage. Sometime it come out in how we live," Rassrod said.

"People pick up their perceptions and it is not a problem to me," he added.

The philosophy behind Rassrod's outfits is "I see woman as god".

He points out that Rastafarian men who have reached a certain level of consciousness never leave out Empress Menen, Haile Selassie's wife. "It is like the Yin and Yang," he said.

"Much of fashion determines one's persona. How I dress is part of my persona," Rassrod said. "We are men who are attuned to the female side of us."

female side neglected

Rassrod attributes much of the aggression in the society to a failure of men in the heterosexual realm to pay attention to that female side. However, "it is so obvious that women can manage the home, take care of the finances and do some of the fathering role. They tune in to the male side of them".

Still, in terms of relationships, he says, "If we are to look at a general view to comment on anything, what rules supreme is man and woman."

While Rassrod still has many of the skirt-like outfits he has worn on stage, he has given many away - all to women, who have absolutely no problem with his dressing.

"That is one of my connecting points with them. Once I portray a measure of that, there is a measure of attraction, so they respond quite well," Rassrod told The Sunday Gleaner.

He says there was one leather outfit that would give the impression that he was into domination and sadism and masochism. "I still have a couple pieces that are solid. These are clothes that are made for wearing out and performance," he said.

And he does wear them off the stage sometimes.

"If I feel like dressing like this in my everyday life, I dress like this. The final thing is about harmony in people. These are the true issues that confront us today," Rassrod said.

- M. C.