I wore a dress to the biggest event for men's clothing, because fashion.

It was the first-ever New York Fashion Week: Men's, where the best-dressed guys were flocking in hoards. There were dandies spotted in the wild, their three-piece Italian-made suits perfectly tailored and made in every shade of grey. Others effortlessly paired together seersucker suits, with matching shorts and slip-ons.

Image: Mashable, Miles Goscha

It's safe to say that if there was ever a macho way of fashionable dress, New York City would be its epicenter. It is, after all, the city that arguably started the athleisure movement, mixing together suits with sneakers and blazers with sweats. Unlike its sister cities London, Paris or Milan, New York is more business casual — and less prone to any unnecessary risks.

Image: Mashable, Miles Goscha

Image: Mashable, Miles Goscha

Image: Mashable, Miles Goscha

That's why it was even more important for me to experiment while gallivanting around in a sheer, sexy dress. Could a seriously commercial city like New York understand the current movement of gender-bending in fashion?

It's a movement we've been seeing on the runways of London Collection: Men's. From wild corsets spotted at Sibling and bikini tops at Christopher Shannon to crop tops at Bobby Abley and Burberry Prorsum's lacy button-ups, it's clear the fashion world is embracing this unisex movement.

So to practice what I preach, and to prove that unisex apparel could and should be embraced, I decided it was finally time to experiment with the gender-bending aesthetic. It was fashion week, after all, and what better time than now to let my freak flag fly?

Walking alongside the fashion tribe, I sported a sheath from the rising Australian brand, Discount Universe, sold at V Files, matched it together with Nike leggings and Rick Owens x Adidas sneakers, and accessorized with an old 3.1 Phillip Lim bag. The dress was exactly my size (a medium in women's), and featured ornate sequins that formed one pair of pink-, purple- and red-colored lips and gold teeth. Very Rihanna and quintessentially Miley.

Finally, a men's editor blurted out what everyone was likely wondering: "Is that a dress, bro?"

He stood there, curiously scrutinizing my outfit.

Most others asked if I was wearing a long sweater or shirt. They were surprised and pleased to discover that it was actually a dress.

"What do you call that then, a man dress?" an NBA player asked me at the Thom Browne show.

"Nah, it's just a dress," I replied.

The afternoon, going into Public School and Timo Weiland, went even better. There, the New York Times' original street style photographer, Bill Cunningham, commented on how "dazzling" my dress was, before snapping away at the outfit.

There were the naysayers, though. Walking out of a restroom inside Skylight Clarkson Sq., I overheard two menswear bloggers commenting how "embarrassing" it was for a man to wear something so feminine. Then there was a friend who told me he didn't believe that gender-bending could ever be stylish.

"It's too much for Americans," he said. "You know that you'd be persecuted if you dressed like that anywhere outside of New York City and Fashion Week, don't you?"

I, for one, did not disagree. For the hundreds of thousands of men and women who decide to express themselves outside of gender norms, wearing what they want often puts them in compromising situations.

But that's why unisex fashion is so liberating — and important. It completely frees people from being forced to fulfill constricting societal-constructed gender roles.

As I proudly wore my dress, I realized for the first time what Fashion Week —and life — should be all about: self-expression and the freedom to be whoever you want to be.

And feeling confident never goes out of style.