Jay Thapar does not consider himself a celebrity. But he is a trailblazer alright- shirking the traditional career choices expected of a man born in a British Punjabi family, he did his BA Honors in Fashion Promotion & Imagery at the University of Creative Arts in Epsom. He then went on to work for Diesel, Premier Model Management, Superdry, and Instinct, with a slew of big names like Replay Jeans and Malibu Rum. Recently, he was appointed by L’Oréal as the Senior Advocacy Manager to launch its recently-acquired luxury vegan and cruelty-free skin care brand ‘Youth To The People’ to the United Kingdom. He had a chat with Asian Voice on what made him survive his difficult life choices, what makes him different, and what drives him.
Speaking of what motivated him to take up fashion as a career, he told us: ‘I wanted to challenge the industry as well as the South Asian space, by bringing hidden voices to life. And that's what inspired me so much on my journey. That's what's led me to join L’Oreal & Youth To The People as I want to raise awareness in hidden communities and push activism. It's beyond beauty for me. And if I can help change the face of beauty, and help diversity and inclusivity, that would make me proud. That's my mission in life.’
Being in a leadership role only enables him to give more. ‘I feel like being in PR, you have the power to fuel racism, you are able to have the casting eye for what is on trend and setting new trends and for me, I want to bring communities like Indian, Pakistani, Black, Chinese, to the forefront because they're so neglected in representation in the UK. Having one person of colour on a campaign is not enough. Like why is there only one influencer or one model who's representing ‘diversity’ on a campaign? There are thousands of people with disabilities. Why can’t they also be on that campaign? I am at the table as one of the decision-makers, I can impact that, and that's why I chose that pathway. The reality is in those offices. Sometimes you have brands that creatively cast and produce ‘diverse’ campaigns but internally their staff do not represent the marketing they are portraying.
In my early days, my cultural experience wasn't seen as valid enough. And then when it came to influencer culture and celebrity culture, within PR, these people weren't even looked at. The honchos were like, “Oh, we don't need them. They don't drive sales.” I've faced so much racism in these roles in my previous jobs, I've heard horrible things where they said Indian people don't generate sales and white, blonde girls do. The rates have always been lower for people of colour. And I really want to stress that.’
He also told us that he would love to mentor younger people who are different. Pursuing a career in the flashy world of fashion without any connection or background deserves to be recognized as inspirational indeed. ‘There is a lot of nepotism’, he says, ‘..just like Bollywood in India. I interned for a year for free just to get in. My family has absolutely no connection to this whereas most people here are connected and they're from boarding schools, and they're from money. And I had to face a lot in societies like these. I was interning whilst I was at university in my final year. I was only meant to be there for a month. It was part of my module at university, but I stayed on for a year because they were really impressed by my work. When you're a junior in fashion you think, wow, they must really love me. I just stayed because, in my head, I was like, “I'm going stay till they give me a job”. I was interning and working a Saturday job in a clothes shop and studying on top of that. So, it was a lot of pressure. And the actual internship was basically a PR assistant role, which I'm glad I did. I learned a lot and yes, it was rewarding because I've got a job in the end, but it was an early experience for sure.’
He is wary about taking his South Asian identity too far though. ‘In the UK when they pick talent or cast people who are Indian, they've got mehndi on their hands, bindis on their foreheads and sarees with trainers to look more ‘Indian’. I'm really conscious of that. When I work with people, it doesn't always have to be about waving the Indian flag. And let's be honest, no one is dressing in India by pairing trainers with a saree. I try and bring all this into storytelling. For example, I'm trying to bring in key UK moments and cast them in my projects and in my brand activations. Obviously, India is so flamboyant, it's so extrovert in its display within fashion and textiles, and it's got a heritage behind it. I've always tried to bring that to my work. We're very hot on loyalty and responsibility. There is that element to it too. Within the craftsmanship, just being founded for a long time is a heritage to me, it's like family, age, with a variety of people, different experiences, and different lifestyles. I'm from a big family myself where I'm the only creative one.’
So what makes him different? Treating human beings as such, from his words. ‘For me, I genuinely care about inclusivity, it is at the heart of my morals. I'm not here to be the next big name. I want this to be a genuine representation and genuine storytelling. I want to make our community proud. We're not known and recognized in mainstream fashion or beauty in the West. I feel like we've got a long way to go for that. In my early years, I got to work on an anti-bullying campaign with Diesel that starred Nicki Minaj. From there I got to dress amazing talents like Stormzy, Stefflon Don, and Jorja Smith, and at that time, I was a really early adopter of VIP dress talent who was classed as ‘urban’. The reason why celebrities like or like working with me on that capacity is because a lot of brands don't dress them and refuse to dress them because the industry can be quite racist. They don’t want ‘that crowd’, as they say. So by doing that, I gained some really good celebrity contacts because I was the pioneer. And then, other brands would pick that up. And then as soon as I did it, those competitor brands suddenly jumped in on the wave.
Another cool example of unconventional casting I worked on as PR I got to work with a talent for a media publication Screen Shot for an anti-bullying campaign. I cast talent such as famous porn star Josh Moore, and beauty activists Harnaam Kaur, Zain Shah and Sophia Hadjipanteli who got to speak about hate and online bullying. And it was a good awareness piece because obviously, who would normally cast a porn star? They also have a huge influence, but traditional marketers would ignore someone like this. But those people also get so much hate. Putting the spotlight on niche talent and cultural moments by challenging the marketing system is my approach to PR.'
