Disruptive Garb: Gender Production and Millennial Sikh Fashion Enterprises in Canada

Zabeen Khamisa

doi:10.3390/rel11040160

Abstract

Several North American Sikh millennials are creating online values-based fashion enterprises that seek to encourage creative expression, self-determined representation, gender equality, and ethical purchasing, while steeped in the free market economy. Exploring the innovative ways young Sikhs of the diaspora express their values and moral positions in the socio-economic sphere, one finds many fashionistas, artists, and activists who are committed to making Sikh dress accessible and acceptable in the fashion industry. Referred to as “Sikh chic”, the five outwards signs of the Khalsa Sikh—the “5 ks”—are frequently used as central motifs for these businesses (Reddy 2016). At the same time, many young Sikh fashion entrepreneurs are designing these items referencing contemporary style and social trends, from zero-waste bamboo kangas to hipster stylized turbans. Young Sikh women are challenging mainstream representations of a masculine Sikh identity by creating designs dedicated to celebrating Khalsa Sikh females. Drawing on data collected through digital and in-person ethnographic research including one-on-one interviews, participant observation, and social media, as well as fashion magazines and newsprint, I explore the complexities of this phenomenon as demonstrated by two Canadian-based Sikh fashion brands, Kundan Paaras and TrendySingh, and one Canadian-based Sikh female artist, Jasmin Kaur.

Highlights

When exploring the innovative ways in which millennial Sikhs of the diaspora are expressing their religious identity and values in the socio-economic domain, it is hard to miss the plethora of young Sikh fashionistas, designers, models, bloggers, photographers, and activists who are committed to making Sikh dress stylish by way of the fashion industry
“Sikh chic” (Reddy 2016), the turban and the five outward signs required of the Khalsa Sikh, known as “the 5ks”—kesh; kangha; kirpan; kachh; kara—are central motifs for the many fashion and accessory lines designed by young Sikhs in the 21st century
For the three Canadian-based Sikh fashion enterprises that make up the case studies for this discussion, I argue that their designs and fashion enterprises intertwine Sikh values, fashion, and business, while engaging discourses around gender equality and Kaurhood/sisterhood, authenticity and self-determined representation, intersectionality, diversity, and, in some cases, ethical purchasing

Summary

Introduction

When exploring the innovative ways in which millennial Sikhs of the diaspora are expressing their religious identity and values in the socio-economic domain, it is hard to miss the plethora of young Sikh fashionistas, designers, models, bloggers, photographers, and activists who are committed to making Sikh dress stylish by way of the fashion industry. Making the Khalsa aesthetic fashionable in the 21st century is a religio-politicized response to the broader systemic barriers Khalsa Sikhs have faced in public life It is merely one strategy in a multi-pronged approach in the politics of recognition and representation for Sikhs in the diaspora, on the one hand, and contributes to a modern mainstreaming of the Khalsa Sikh identity in the diaspora, on the other. These religio-political responses are rooted in an understanding of core Sikh values including seva (selfless community service), sarbat da ballah (the well-being of others), and miri piri (the non-dualism and integration of spirituality and politics in daily life). These core Sikh values have operated as a framework for Sikh engagement in volunteerism (in and beyond the gurdwara); politics, social activism, and philanthropy, as I suggest, function as a guide for millennial Sikh entrepreneurs and values-based business (Desjardins and Desjardins 2009; Dusenbery and Tatla 2009; Jakobsh and Walton-Roberts 2016)

Sikh Values-Based Fashion Enterprises

Case Studies

Conclusions