India’s first kinky apparel e-tailer on BDSM, consent and the country’s paradoxical views on sex and shame
I'm having a Fifty Shades of Grey moment, looking with lust and longing at the offerings on Subculture's website on my phone: not-so-discreet jockstraps, corsets, chokers, gags, floggers, crops and harnesses. Dressed in leather pants paired with a sequinned, see-through shirt, the 26-year-old handsome proprietor Randhir Singh is a doe-eyed, pouty-lipped, sinewy and lean guy. More like the androgynous, bisexual vampire Lestat from an Anne Rice novella than the business-suited Christian Grey from Fifty Shades.
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Subculture is a line of fashion-forward, leather fetish wear, aiming to bridge the gap between sex and fetishes in the India
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Randhir Singh grew up watching Grace Jones and Lady Gaga, who openly endorsed kinky apparel and fetishwear
The erotic aesthetic
"What is a nice Rajput boy like you doing running a fetish wear label in Jaipur?" I ask him. I've been to New York's infamous sex dungeons and Amsterdam's De Wallen district, but to imagine something like this in Rajasthan sounds like blasphemy! "Nothing fancy," he retorts, "I'm just your standard queer person who was exploring his sexuality, kinks, and fetishes. Somewhere along the line, I saw an opportunity and a gap in the Indian market last year. Subculture is a line of fashion-forward, leather fetish wear, aiming to bridge the gap between sex and fetishes in the Indian subcontinent and beyond," he ambitiously declares.
“BONDAGE & DISCIPLINE IS THE EXPLORATION OF POWER DYNAMICS AND SEXUAL SUBMISSION THAT CAN ONLY BE ESTABLISHED THROUGH A SOLID BEDROCK OF CONSENT AND TRUST.”
Randhir Singh
One often equates lovemaking with undressing, but eroticism is what is left to the imagination—think costumed roleplays, pole dancing or lacy lingerie: "I discovered my penchant while I was studying leather design at my university," the NIFT Delhi alumni reveals, "I grew up watching Grace Jones and Lady Gaga, who openly endorsed kinky apparel and fetishwear. What I hadn't seen enough was leather as a fetish—I badly wanted to give it a try, and there was no way in—except bad quality rexine accessories on Amazon and occasional visits from friends from abroad who sourced me labels like Anoeses and Fleet Ilya. I decided to go ahead with what I had in hand and met groups of individuals with similar tastes. That is how my journey began."
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Like India's LGBTQ+ community, the country's BDSM and kink enthusiasts are still coming out of the closet, albeit at a much slower pace
Talking S&M
Pleasure is often only the tip of the iceberg; there is a large underground community of sexual beings worldwide who get turned on by pain (but not violence). "When we speak of BDSM in India, the layman only equates it with perversion and abuse, everything that it is not! Bondage & Discipline is the exploration of power dynamics and sexual submission that can only be established through a solid bedrock of consent and trust, and the use of safewords," Singh says. We both agree that the Fifty Shades of Grey movie trilogy was hilariously vanilla, and Singh suggests another list as a primer—Belle de Jour, The Notorious Bettie Page, Nymphomaniac, and The Duke of Burgundy—more realistic cinematic portrayals on the genre, he feels.
Like India's LGBTQ+ community, the country's BDSM and kink enthusiasts are still coming out of the closet, albeit at a much slower pace. The Sangya Project, Kinky Collective, BDSM Official and Intimacy Curator etc., are online resources at the forefront of fetish education in the country, Singh says, pinpointing the burgeoning movement.
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Subculture is a trademarked, registered brand under 'Indian Trademark Registry, Class-18'
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Singh feels that even India's sexual minorities can co-exist side-by-side with the cis-het mainstream
Like any spa and salon, celebrity fan page or modelling agency, Subculture's Instagram profile receives a fair share of horror stories as DMs. "It happens on a pretty regular basis," Singh sighs, "Messages asking for mistresses, my sexual preference, sex toys, asking for my models' phone number, applicants wanting to model for the brand..." Singh maintains a professional stance, answering them in a very polite manner. "You don't want to piss off anyone since the brand approach is very sensitive. Trust me, it's a very tough job not to lose your calm, at times," he says.
The democratisation of desire
How does he handle family and friends' opinions? He asserts that as a queer, polyamorous individual, he was already an outlier right from the get-go. What about political backlash or legal repercussions? "I am not doing anything illegal. Subculture is a trademarked, registered brand under 'Indian Trademark Registry, Class-18' which describes: leather and imitations of leather goods, saddlery, whips, harnesses etc.," he states in a matter-of-fact fashion .
“I'M JUST YOUR STANDARD QUEER PERSON WHO WAS EXPLORING HIS SEXUALITY, KINKS, AND FETISHES.”
Randhir Singh
We live in a country full of sexual contradictions, where centuries ago, Khajuraho's temples, which embraced sexual diversity, stood alongside other monasteries that idealised celibacy. "Before launching Subculture—I used to organise Pride Night Jaipur—the first organised queer night in the state of Rajasthan, introducing drag queens and strippers to a mixed audience. It was such a task bringing out closeted folks on an open floor to celebrate Pride! After a year, word started spreading, and people would even drive down from Delhi to attend this crazy night, a safe space open to everyone, but exclusively for queers," he says.
"The last night we celebrated in February 2020 before the pandemic hit, literally had guys making out with guys, girls on girls, and guys with girls making out on the floor openly—nothing that I have seen in my life before," he continues. The memory is cherished and symbolic to Singh. As the world's largest democracy, Singh feels that even India's sexual minorities can co-exist side-by-side with the cis-het mainstream in a manner that is enquiring, respectful and tolerant.
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