Christian Chavez on Fashion, Touring and Reclaiming Himself: 'This Is Me, This Is Who I Am' (Exclusive)

RBD wrapped their Soy Rebelde reunion tour in December

After touring with RBD for the first time since their split in 2009, Christian Chavez is feeling liberated.

On the Soy Rebelde reunion tour, which ran from August to December, Chavez, 40, was able to express himself like never before — and he credits the feeling to one particular night on tour.

After their show at New York City's Madison Square Garden, Chavez received backlash for wearing a pink Charro-inspired outfit with tennis shoes instead of traditional cowboy boots. At the time, he issued an apology and set the record straight: the boots simply didn't come in on time.

Now, Chavez is done apologizing.

"I felt that it was something very special. And with the backlash, I'm going to be honest with you, at the beginning, I asked for forgiveness," he tells PEOPLE. "And then I was like, 'Dude, you know what? I've been asking [for forgiveness] so many times that I'm done with it.'"

Related: RBD's Christian Chavez Opens Up About Losing 'Everything' After He Was Outed — and How He Regained 'Control'

"[This] started the fire of being unapologetic and being myself and being big and louder. I'm not only talking about myself, I'm talking about a whole community," he continues. "This was just an interpretation of my Mexicanidad."

The pink Charro suit was only one of the many eclectic outfits Chavez wore onstage. As it turns out, Chavez, along with his stylist Pablo Machado, created unique looks only hours before showtime.

"I always [arrive] four or five hours earlier to do my whole thing. So he always asks me, 'How are you feeling today?' And I'm like, 'Well, tonight I want to go a little bit more sexy,' or 'I want to be more campy,' or 'I want to be more masculine,' or 'I want to be more traditional Mexican with a glam style.'"

Sometimes, the outfits were representative of Chavez's mood: "[There was a] show where I was like, 'Dude, I'm feeling sad and angry, and I want to be a bitch, so put me in that.'"

His outfits were also a way of "honoring divas" like Thalia, Britney Spears, Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande. His favorite outfit, however, was turning the Angel of Independence — which is a beloved monument in Mexico City — into a corset.

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"It was amazing. It expressed something that, for Mexicans, we always go to the Angel of Independence to celebrate or to cry or to protest, but it means so much more. It means freedom, it means being yourself," he said.

Looking back on his time on tour — where he reunited with members Maite Perroni, Anahí, Dulce María and Christopher von Uckermann — Chavez is grateful he was able to reconnect with RBD fans as the "new Christian."

"This is me, this is who I am," he says. "The reaction of the fans and the crowd, every time I go out with a different outfit, being myself, it creates a bond. Not only with the crowd, but also with my inner child that was so hurt."

He concludes, "Growing up it was like, 'No, you can't do this. You can't do that.' I was trying to hide myself. I was denying him. So, my soul was broken in many pieces. And what I've done in this tour, it's recovering those pieces and gluing with love into my heart again."

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Read the original article on People.