Where Fashion Meets Faith: The Singh Street Style Blog

In many ways, London-based Pardeep Singh Bahra's sartorial diary is hardly an anomaly from the thousands of other street style blogs that swarm the interweb like biblical locusts in search of a feast. It features the usual heady mix of classic cuts, colour-blocked outfits, multi-hued socks, camouflage prints, tailored band jackets, bow-ties you name it. There is, however, a single key difference that sets it apart from all the others--every man featured on the blog wears a turban.

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Singh Street Style is the love child of fashion and faith. An odd pairing perhaps but in this case, opposites do attract. Pardeep's journey began organically enough. Growing up in Essex, despite the large immigrant population, he found that his turban didn't necessarily attract the most positive attention on the streets. Bahra nurtured a love for style though and was quick to realise that none of the fashion sites he looked at ever featured a turbaned man.

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The blog, only started in March of this year, has already become a worldwide phenomenon especially among the Sikh community. What started off as instagram experimentation ultimately resulted in a blog for wider reach and before long, other Singhs were writing in requesting to be featured. He's even photographed Jatinder Singh, renowned Sikh model who's modelled for the likes of GQ wearing elaborately styled turbans.
Hakkam,a 20-year-old optometry student pairs skinny black jeans with lime green socks, brown brogues, a purple parka and a chicly styled white turban here. Bahra himself is most often photographed wearing rolled up skinny jeans in stand-out colours like maroon and teal, boat shoes and prayer beads worn as a necklace.
Even the turbans themselves, are often styled differently one each band, an asset to each outfit in many ways, though Bahra says the style they usually conform to is the 'Kenyan style turban.' However he does add, "despite having a similar style, their turbans do vary from the angle, to the size, to the shape and colour." One way or the other, Singh's ultimate goal has already been achieved through this blog. He has truly managed to highlight just how much a turban can complement an outfit, even give a man more character.
It's not uncommon to hear of young Sikh boys, even in India, express displeasure or lack of confidence at having to sport a turban, what with rampant globalisation in the country doing a pretty decent job of stamping out individuality. It's becoming increasingly difficult to look 'different' (with more respect to ethnic identities than sartorial choices) in the world we live in today and it would appear that Bahra is in fact, tackling something far deeper than just the stylish world he's creating for us.
He gives it away himself in his final statement while giving an interview to UK-based publication, The Guardian. "I've noticed more people are taking pride in their turban, and I really hope to inspire younger Sikh guys to be proud of their turbans too."
To view more pictures from Singh's chic Sikh style blog, click on the gallery below:
[gallery columns="4" link="file" ids="1543,1542,1541,1538,1537,1536,1535,1533,1532,1530,1527,1525"]
Words: Mandovi Menon Image Credit: Singh Street Style Blog (with permission)

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