Sonny Caberwal's moody looks have won him a string of commissions and caused a surge of pride and excitement throughout the world's Sikh community.
Mr Caberwal's appearance in GQ's Style magazine for spring-summer 2009 has been hailed as major boost for Sikh traditionalists. In a spread, shot by Gregor Hohenberg, Mr Caberwal, 30, poses in a black dinner jacket, black silk scarf and a pink turban. In another he wears a white tuxedo with a yellow sunflower and matching turban.
His sudden emergence as a model has come as a surprise to him. Mr Caberwal, who was working as a business developer for IT companies while running his own tea firm, was discovered by Kenneth Cole, the American fashion designer, early last year.
He featured in a video called "We Walk in Different Shoes" and was signed up by the American and South African model agency Boss.
"Cole was looking for a turbaned man for their 25th anniversary campaign, but could find no professional Sikh model," he said. "My brother-in-law suggested that I email a photo to them, and the rest is history."
He said is delighted and proud of the reaction he has received so far, and hopes it will promote greater self-confidence among Sikh men.
"It's not about me, but about Sikh identity and about our culture and traditions being in a positive light to people around the world," he said.
Although Sikh American-Indian hotelier Vikram Chatwal featured briefly in Zoolander, the Ben Stiller satire on the fashion world, Mr Caberwal is believed to be the world's only Sikh professional model.