Guest Lecture: Turban Fashion

Today we have a special guest lecture from a Fashionable Dutch Academic.  The "Dissertating Yogini" (as she has asked to be called for this guest post) happens to have a very particular sense of style, which is centered around her choice to wear a turban.  The Dissertating Yogini not only researches, writes, and teaches history, she also teaches yoga and has spent a fair amount of time in India and Indonesia.  At my request, she put together a wonderful post on turban style.

What do you do with your sense of fashion and style when you used to be a regular party girl, danced tango, and taught at university, and you discover yourself as a yogi, convert to Sikh Dharma (the spiritual path of the Seekers) and feel compelled to wear clothes that express this spiritual lifestyle? Yet you also still teach at university, and dance tango sometimes… Maybe this is not a question that many of you have asked yourself, because I certainly never expected that I would start asking this question. But here I am, after 30-odd years of sporting blond curly hair, I have been proudly and happily wearing my dastaar (turban) for almost a year.

 References:

Turban, 5 mtrs white cotton, 10$, India

White scarf with little pearls, 5$, India

Blouse, from a French Supermarché, 18$

Trousers, tailored in Amritsar, 5$

Bag, bough in Rishkesh, 2$

Some of us have been confronted with other reasons to wear a head cover. Several of my friends have had cancer and started wearing hats, scarves or turbans to protect or decorate their hairless head. Other women commit to wearing a headscarf for religious or cultural purposes. Since for some of us wearing a head cover is a permanent commitment - and we do not want to take it off because it does not fit with our desired outfit - we have to match our outfit with our turban or scarf. And how to do this? Can you combine a turban with a sassy skirt? Does it look weird with a suit? My own sense of style has certainly changed a lot over the past year. This is not only because of how I look with my dear turban, but also of the inner changes it has brought me.

 References:

Dress, ? , 50$ on sale

grey leggings

Black suede tango shoes with a peep toe, Comme Il Faut, 160$

The turban is a beautiful and centuries old technology, with both a symbolic and energetic effect. There are many explanations about what it means or does to wear a turban. What I have noticed myself is that I like the sort of pressure it puts on my skull – opening the intuitive quality called the ‘third eye’. I feel stronger and taller and more connected to Guru/God/Universe/Divine, other people, and my own inner wisdom when I wear it. One of my favourite symbols is the idea of wrapping my head as gift to the Guru, and luckily my gift-wrapping comes in many colours! Another interpretation is that you crown your Self by wearing a turban, and thus become a royal warrior for truth, equality and love. Sikhs have been warriors for equality and freedom for all religions and for all genders for centuries and it is an important part of Sikh Dharma. I feel that wearing my turban makes me much more aware of my behaviour and my impact on other people and the world. Do I uplift and inspire, or do I spread negativity?

 References:

Typical Indian Salwar and Kameez, tailored in Amritsar, and with trouser leg tied for the bike ride, about 15$

Shoes, Birckenstock, 40$

Turban, 5 mtrs white cotton, 10$

A recent trip to India gave me a lot of great ideas about how to combine my turban with my outfits. I saw Sikh men wearing a turban that matched with the stripes on their dress-shirts for example. And a friend in London likes to wear a turban that matches the colour of his shoes. In India I bought about 20 different turban colours, for all occasions and moods. I use about 5 meters per turban, so you can imagine what my house looks like after a turban-laundry-day… very colourful and messy for sure!
I have discovered by now that it is possible to dance tango in a turban, combine it with jeans, to wear a dress, to look stylish and formal in a skirt and cardigan, and to dress for yoga or look like a Sikh warrior if I want to. The times that I was standing desperate in front of my wardrobe because I did not know what to wear are over. I guess identity and lifestyle changes invite with wardrobe crises…Yes, my sense of style has changed, because wearing a turban with a very low-cut shirt does just not feel right to me. I mean a Queen just doesn’t show her boobs to the world, does she ☺? At the same time I have become much more creative with clothes and colours, wearing things I would have never worn before my turban. In the end I just feel freer than I did before. I still enjoy beautiful clothes, and shopping, and looking good, but at the same time the feeling I have inside has become so much stronger and more important, that the clothes I wear just matter less.

 References:

Cardigan, black wool with white beading, brand is called midnight, 100$

White tshirt, Livera, 20$

Skirt, ?, 120$

Tights ? (I was not too happy with how those tights turned out, I think I will go for black ones the next time!)

Shiny black shoes, H&M, 30$

But back to you now: have you ever felt like you had to radically adjust your outfits for one reason or another (internal or external changes)? And how did this influence you and your sense of style? Would you wear clothing or a head cover for religious or spiritual reasons? And would you wear a turban for fashion sense? Because this has become quite the runway style it seems! Check this out!

 Source

I am curious to hear from you!

Thanks so much to the Dissertating Yogini for guest lecturing here for us at Fashionable Academics!  We would all love to hear your anwers to her questions for discussion.