Indians are punk

PHOTOGRAPHY & ART DIRECTION STEVE NEY
STYLING KRIS DECHINE, NAHLA BOAZ, KURTIS GHOST
MODELS RABINE FLORY, BARATHY AKKAN, KUMAR MUTHU, IQRA MIRZA, FRANCOIS DELACROIX, SHERYL BENNETT, HARI MURUGAN, ANNICHAME DUGEN
HAIR ROMAIN DURAND
MAKE-UP ALEXIA AMZALLAG
HAIR ASSISTANTS AMAURY AUXIETTE, TOCO
MAKE-UP ASSISTANTS ALEXIA NGOHO, ELISE DENYS
ASSISTANTS SARAH OTHMANI, STANLEY NEY, JEAN BAPTISTE FERRE, KOFFI WANDJI, CHRIS LOBE
SPECIAL THANKS DR. MARTENS, WALTER VAN BEIRENDONCK, LUCIEN PAGÈS COMMUNICATION

This is a project that is very close to my heart.

Through this editorial, I really wanted to put forward South-Asian models, particularly South Indians. Usually when you see Indian models featured in any kind of fashion editorial, the choice is always to push the more traditional side of India that most people already know. Traditional clothes, traditional ambience or set up, it gets redundant and boring. It doesn’t showcase the models and their ability to transform either because that is the only way we see them in media and fashion.
Therefore, what I aimed to do was to break the mold and create a project out of the usual comfort zone. We were able to find South-Asian models from Paris, India, and Switzerland for this project to come to life.

To go even further and really shake things up, I chose to retake from a movement that broke the codes in the 70’s, which is the punk movement. Westwood, Marni, McQueen... Everyone took it, made it its own and it was so impactful for the fashion industry that I wanted to reappropriate it in my own way and showcase it on Indian models. I aimed for a neo-punk feel with almost futuristic-looking clothes because I was craving something new and to me this whole project feels like the beginning of a new era.
It was never done before and the reasoning was always clear to me. The punk movement, apart from being a fashion movement, was also a political movement that was all about the anarchy and breaking the rules. I really wanted to challenge that because this is, in a way, what we did through this editorial: breaking the norm and the current codes when it comes to Indian and South-Asian models.

What is great about this project is that the whole casting is South-Asian models, but the photographer (myself) is as well. This is also why it is such a big and important project for me, because it touches me personally.

I really wanted to show a different side of India and South-Asia in general and I hope that it will make an impact, as small as it maybe. INDIANS ARE PUNK is more than just the name of the project. It’s about South Asia as a whole. INDIANS ARE PUNK is really about the symbolic and the need to create a bigger movement around the representation of South Asia in fashion. It’s about inspiring others and reshaping perceptions and visions.

CLOTHES WALTER VAN BEIRENDONCK, COMME DES GARÇONS, SACAI, VIVIENNE WESTWOOD, CHANEL, KOCHÉ, ERDEM, EGONLAB, ROCHAS, DRIES VAN NOTEN, CHARLES JEFFREY LOVERBOY, JEAN PAUL GAULTIER, UNDERCOVER, SOLID HOMME, DR. MARTENS