Sandylion: Fostering fearless fashion

By Surbhi Gogia

Meet celebrity style, fashion blogger, educator, and social media influencer Sandylion, who wears multiple hats to perfection while teaching youth the art of being fashionable without fear and non-conformist. Sandy is one of the featured artists in 5X music fest

It is said that beauty comes with a price and pain, but according to Sandeep Gill AKA Sandylion, fashion blogger and social media influencer, it does not have to. Sandy’s inspirational journey to the fashion world is a lesson that even with minimalistic resources and limited money one can look extremely fashionable and beautiful. All you need is to take care of yourself and embrace what you have. Being beautiful does not have to be painful. You just need to come out of the comfort zone of “what’s in” and get comfortable with what you have!

A school teacher by profession, Sandy has been practicing what she preaches. Along with teaching elementary school kids, Sandy has taught many people to be themselves and take pride in who they are. It is this ability to inspire others to be fully themselves, which has made her an essential part of the 5X Festival for the past two years. 

The Journey

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Her journey from being a middle class Punjabi girl to a celebrity stylist and Instagrammer with more than 97K followers, is an inspiration to all those who get uncomfortable with their styles if they aren’t living up to the standards set by others. 

Sandy was born in a Punjabi family that immigrated from India and lived in Toronto. And like many first-generation immigrants, her parents could not give her the luxury to buy expensive clothing, however they did give her an invaluable lesson in fashion. “All my family members – mom, dad, and my sisters – love to dress up and be fashionable. But it was never about brands. Fashion is an expression of your personality and your emotion. It is something that lets the world know about you. It tells who you are as a person. I never really had the money to buy big brands. It was something that I grew up with — taking care of yourself and representing who you are was taught to me,” she says.

Sandy experimented with whatever limited material she found in her mother’s or sisters’ closet. Growing up in a Canadian city with Punjabi complexities can be challenging for many young people. But instead, Sandy turned it into her strength. In one of her posts, she says, “Often it was someone judging us and telling us we weren’t living up to certain standards they created. Through the years I’ve learned more and found my confidence to embrace the sides of Sikhi that best reflect me. Those sides include service to others (Seva) and education (Sikh translates to ‘Student’). Sikhi is to be a student and to always keep learning and that plays its role in everything that I do. Whether that be me trying to teach someone how to put an outfit together, teaching a unit on a theorem, or life lessons such as bullying, it all has the backbone of education. Seva has been a huge influence as well because to give back to our community is everything. What I am doing online is a form of hopefully giving back to someone.”

Fusion-Style

Her style has become a free and liberated artistic expression of her identity. “To be over the top and extravagant with choices that create a moment. For me, a look that makes me stare for more than 5 seconds is key. The look has to; tell a story or share a message, even if I can’t put my finger on exactly why – just a purely emotional reaction. I will always respect and be drawn to people who chose to make an impact with the moments they get and of course, when the look is just simply well put together and beautiful to look at,” she says.

Her style, be it fusion or modern, is a true reflection of a multicultural country. “I grew up in a multicultural city that exposes you to lots of different cultures and different thinking. This really shows in the way I dress. It speaks of different experiences, different things that I have been exposed to in my life — whether it is being Punjabi and wearing a Parandi or different styles I was exposed to through my love of hip hop. My style is the reflection of the music, culture, and people I grew up around.”

Be it wearing white sneakers with a traditional lehenga, styling a Parandi with high waist jeans, donning a maang tika with green hair, or just wearing jhumkis with a plain white T-shirt, Sandy has mastered the art of fusion.,”In one of her Instagram posts while wearing a white T-shirt with an Indian skirt, she wrote:”Streetwear x Indian fashion are my vibe, what about you?I feel like we have to learn fashion rules in order to break them…”

After her graduation, Sandy decided to go to teachers’ college. It was while pursuing her course and working different jobs for her school tuitions, that Lilly Singh and Kanwar Singh (Humble the Poet) suggested that she start sharing her content on Instagram. “I started posting my pictures, providing fashion tips and advice regularly, and was teaching at the same time.”

As she grew, new opportunities opened up for Sandy such as, styling other people and celebrities, walking on ramps and promoting fashion brands. She also started her own line of clothing under the name Esskayji and launched a style of unique business suits under the name of the Sandy Suit. “The Sandy Suit journey has been such an incredible one that Amar Singh of Sahiba Fashions and I have been on since 2015… it began with the idea of creating a power suit for women out of powerful fabric. What was powerful for us was what we saw Indian women and our moms, aunts, and grandmasin the past and so we decided to create a power suit out of those fabrics. It is designed to make you feel good. The journey itself involved a lot of trial and error to come up with a product we were truly happy with. Since then we have dressed men and women around the worldin the suit, for big events and moments, but also just for life.”

And now she is a famous social media influencer who wants the youth to be fearless and express themselves. “Bringing new and fresh ideas that inspire and motivate others is my goal. What I want to share with all my followers is to be fearless and to share these moments with others. The ultimate goal for everyone is to live without fear and to get to know ourselves to our raw cores. To be able to share that with everyone and our loved ones is a special thing.”

Sandy and 5X Fest  

It is her this quality which is in sync with the 5X cultural fest and has made her an essential part of it. The 5X Festival aims to present influencers who inspire others to be fully themselves. It creates a space where artists can meet artists, novices can meet masters, and fans can be inspired to find their inner artist.

While talking about her association with 5X, Sandy says, “I attended this awesome festival last year. I got to speak on stage and share my video that I worked on with a charity called We Are Sikh. Through that relation, they called me this year too to be one of their artists. I will get to talk about being fashionable during COVID-19. I will also get to do a one-on-one styling session with someone who won through the online raffle. We will through their closet, talk about different ways they can incorporate their heritage in their day-to-day wardrobe and I will also be on a pre-recorded chat.”

She feels 5X is an amazing platform to connect youth to the world. “People are missing out so much due to the pandemic like meeting people and asking questions. This fest is a chance and a great way to connect with people. Just unwind, relax, and meet artists from across the diaspora.”

What’s Trending

The pandemic has changed the way we meet people and operate our day to day life and also how we dress. She says, “In a general lot of things for fashion have changed — fashion has become a lot more comfortable. Since a lot of us are working from home, our wardrobe has to be something that can work for all the different roles we play during the day.”

According to Sandy, jeans and denim from the 90s have become a lot more popular. “For me buying different pairs of jeans — be it high-waist or baggy — is always exciting. A lot of denim from the 90s is coming back. I am loving that resurrection.”

She adds that it is also a great time to go through your wardrobe and get rid of things you don’t want, donate things, and set your wardrobe up for success.

Festival season is just around the corner. This Diwali and Christmas are going to look a lot more different from what we have ever seen. Sandy’s message for everyone is to be safe and follow the rules. “I wish everyone to have a happy festival season and spend a lot of time with your loved ones. Just squeeze them extra tight because this has been a roller coaster year something that we never imagined. Be grateful to have made it this far and be positive about the future.”