Yesterday I received an email from the Sikh Coalition, letting me know that there is an opportunity for a Sikh model (male) in or around New York City:
If you are interested in modeling for Kenneth Cole, here is what they are looking for: A Sikh male, about 25 to 35 years old, who is “attractive.” If this works for you, please e-mail your picture to
xyz@xyz.comat the very latest by 10:00 a.m. on Thursday morning [Update: The deadline is passed now]. As an incentive, the person they choose will get a “couple thousand” dollars. The shoot will be half a day, here in the city and will be on either the 18th, 19th, 25th, or 26th of this month.
The email got some funny reactions from friends, including one woman who asked if it was a hoax organized by a very desperate and resourceful New York City sardarni 
.
Obviously I like the basic impulse – standards of beauty are drawn in such a way as to usually exclude Sikh males: clean shaven, waxed chests, short hair, etc.
I know of only a few cases where Sikh men have tried to make a career of modelling in the west – one was Vikram Chatwal who had a spread in Vogue, another was a caucasian Sikh who modelled with his hair open. Both were from wealthy families, and in neither case did their modelling career last long. This isn’t surprising – if African female fashion models are still struggling, Sikh men will have a far harder time.
Still, for all my enthusiasm, there was a part of this effort which brought me up short:
A casting director, working for Kenneth Cole, is looking for a Sikh male to be part of an advertising campaign that dispels stereotypes about marginalized people in our society.
My response to this was pretty clear: “Dang – why we always gotta be exotic? Can’t we just be you know … gorgeous men without qualification? Why we gotta be marginalized?” It’s better than nothing, but we’re a far way from having our “look” accepted. [More photos after the fold]
That said, I have seen some good uses of Sikhs for their “look.” I get a kick out of seeing Waris, in part because I knew him back in the day, but also because I know he is there more as a fashionista than as a clothes rack. I also liked the spread – was it in GQ? – where they took some uncles out of their taxis and put them in some fine clothes. Lastly, I love these shots from Andrew Kelly’s website (I suggest you click through, he’s got a whole bunch of them).
I’m having a hard time putting into words why I liked these examples but am wary of the Cole effort and wasn’t crazy about Vikram or the other model. I think it largely has to do with the extent of exotification, and my suspicion that exotification might be unavoidable for people trying professional modelling, but can be reduced if you use the sardar on the street AND if you aren’t trying to Benetton him.
There are plenty of Sikh men out there, dressed up like peacocks, swaggering around if you just want some pretty sardars in nice clothes in a photo . But for some reason, more “fashion” type shots and spreads always rub me the wrong way.
Update: ALL PHOTOS IN THIS POST ARE EXAMPLES OF WORK I LIKE. The photos below are from Andrew Kelly, the photo above is of Waris, but I don’t know where it is from.
[Before you ask, I haven’t thrown my metaphorical hat in the ring for this. I am vain enough 
, but work is too busy to let me easily get to NYC for a shoot. ]
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Right, exoticization is the point of a lot of fashion photography.
True, whether somebody is white or brown or whatever. I was having a hard time finding a coherent way to explain my gut reaction, but you’re spot on.
Sikhs are marginalized even in Indian advertising. I have seen very few Sikh models in Indian fashion ads, and they usually promote the traditional sherwani-churidar outfits, not western clothes. Outside of fashion advertising, the occasional Sikh actors used in Indian advertising pitch tires and engine oil, another example of the general stereotyping of Sikhs as truckers and dhaba owners.
I wish I had seen the Waris shots and the GQ spread. They seem to be pretty creative examples of advertising.
Incidentally, speaking as an ad guy, I do like that Sardarji’s pensive look in the suit ad. It needed a little tighter focus on the product, but does draw you in. Is that you, Ennis?
Well, I’m glad to know you’re vain enough, Ennis, but sorry you’re too busy.
He’s in the latest Domino magazine shown with his lady-friend. They put together an outdoor dinner party, he did the design work (decorating) and she did the menu. I love looking at him and the color/texture combinations of his design choices. He’s working the look ; )
All I’m saying is that if I was single and Sikh in the City, I would want to be this clever =)
Also, I’m all for exotification if it will get Sikh men into more visible advertising. Gotta start somewhere!
Sikh men are hot, hot, hot. They don’t know what they’ve been missing.
(Sorry, someone had to start the objectification…)
amen!!
No, unfortunately 😉 Those photos are all of Australian Sikhs.
I don’t object to objectification 😀
Tis far better to be slightly too vain than slightly insecure …
[I’m so vain, I probably think this post is about me … ]
Just added a great shot of Waris …
I had a similar reaction with the Dove beauty campaigns. On one hand I thought of it being progressive and set out with good intentions. On the other, I worry that these types of campaigns just place minorities into a different problem. Somehow, very subtlety, these campaigns seem to further isolate minorities and “people with unconventional beauty.”
I can dig up a picture of you Ennis that has you looking pretty hot in a wild print shirt in Central Park 🙂 Shall we submit it?
Darn! I think you’d be a great male model. And think about what it would do for your CV!
I want to see more pictures of the guy from the facial hair contest. That’s what I’m lurking around for.
11 · Ennis on October 3, 2007 04:24 PM · Direct link
“Just added a great shot of Waris …”
Great it is! At first I saw a royal metaphor with a princely Sardarji flanked by gora guards. I would have put fly whisks in the hands of the guards to complete the allusion. But then I noticed the “guards” had their hands on Sardarji’s shoulders. So they are friends, not help. But I can’t shake that bodyguards and master imagery. Doesn’t Waris have a flowing beard? Wearing the net would have been oh so prosaic in a picture that has such subtle connotations.
God is in the details, and not only in architecture.
That guy was hot.
Haunted, here’s another pic of randeep (the long beard guy): http://www.mrsikhnet.com/index.php/2005/08/31/112547844785513752/
Just wanted to echo Manish Vij’s point that all fashion photography is exoticization. Its job is to work in the broadest, most emotional strokes possible, appealing to some of our most unspoken desires and fears – which is why much fashion photography never makes much logical sense. Anyone who watches America’s Next Top Model has learned that! 🙂 In a world where top-tier magazines have fashion photo shoots simulating gang rape (where of course the girl model is looking like she’s secretly enjoying it), I’ll take a dashing sardarji in a perfect suit any day. It could have been (be?) much, much, much worse.
I dont see anything wrong with these images. PEople complain that the desi guys are always shown as lame and wierd. this is showing handom well dressed desi guys in fashion shoots. seems a-ok to me.
My understanding, which maybe incorrect, is that the Sikh look was ment to make you stand out from the crowd and things that tend to stand out from crowds tend to be labeled exotic, like a ferrari in a row of Honda’s will be labeled the “exotic” car.
These were the images I liked. I haven’t shown the ones I didn’t like, in part because I don’t have them in electronic form.
Exoticization is necessary because aetheticization hardly applies.
I believe you are appealing to democracy to palliate the difficult truths of the biology of attraction.
The one in suspenders still looks lame and weird.
lame and weird and in a condom shaped turban, but still raging hot.
If you think guys in turbans and beards aren’t attractive, and I’m just trying to be PC … you’re entitled to your opinion and you have misunderstood me.
where are the desi foot models?
exoticization: lotsa luck. I think it’s that we don’t like body hair in western culture. I mean, look at the extent to which women go to depilate – brazilian wax, etc. IMO, the idea is that models shoud look as close to pubescent as possible. And male models are also expected to look this way: smooth chested, bare face (or a scattering of just missed my shave this morning hairs). Men are lightly luckier in that outsideof magazine pages the same standards do not hold. But… you don’t see much in the way of Orthodox Jewish men in the fashion pages either.
I also wanted to comment on your hate crimes post that follows this one. I live not very far from Burtonsville, and it wasn’t all that long ago that the area was pretty much lily-white, and lotsa cars on the front lawns, if you know what I mean. It’s not an excuse, but as a Jew (who is obviously Jewish, not a blonde/blonde/skinny ass type)I wouldn’t move there.
who says they’re not attractive?? it’s the turban and the beards that make me turn my head (and almost crash my car)
I enjoy the attraction, when riding an Enfield with stylish Turban, a rough jeans and a RayBan 🙂
By the way the ads are up. They have a super hot Sikh Model on the entire storefront in their 5th Avenue flagship store. I’ve been trying to find the picture online (short of walking over there and taking one myself) but haven’t been successful.
JOAT, we have a story on it over at The Langar Hall [plus pic] 🙂
FYI- they just put up the ad at their store in boston @ the Copley mall. I’m a surd who works in the area and when I was in front of the store someone actually inquired if the dude on the poster was me.Guess people can’t differentiate between men with beards and turbans.
We all look alike. Now if only I could get a date out of somebody confusing me with Amardeep …
I have seen this site for the first time. It is really very motivational for young sikh models. Please keep it up.
Thanks
Jolly Uncle http://www.jollyuncle.com
Ok the pink n suspender is just screwed up, especially with the turban shave, but as long as we don’t pull a gori toting attempt at fashion like waris tries (which jut makes him nasty gross vermadoola), the rabbi shergill hairy – as – a -cat classic pagh (my fav is nikku style) is just amazing…..besides…u ever hear of how sardars came to be?
One day, vaheguru was stting around thinking….he was bored. He made cats and butterflies, and was very pleased with this. He then decided to outdo his previous amazing works, and so he created the sardarji. He put hair on their faces in much abundance to seperate tem from the rest and make them THE best looking creatures alive. Well, it must have worked, because after this, Vaheguruji could NOT duplicate his sucess with these precious creatures. (And yes, this IS pattie ‘nirmal’, but im not in NY full time yet….)
Hey Guys.
Do check this out:
http://sikhmodel.blogspot.com/
Raba Rakha!