Vancouver Indigenous Fashion Week honours innovation, representation

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Vancouver Indigenous Fashion Week

When: November 20-23

Where: Queen Elizabeth Theatre (630 Hamilton St, Vancouver)

Tickets and info: Vifw.ca

There’s a fact about Vancouver Indigenous Fashion Week (VIFW) that is both a point of pride, and a point of pause.

“Almost all of the people who go to Vancouver Indigenous Fashion Week are Indigenous, which is amazing,” says Inez Cook, co-founder and owner of the Vancouver-based restaurants Salmon n’ Bannock. “But, we’d really like the rest of the world to know and celebrate, as well.”

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Founded in 2017 by model and producer Joleen Mitton, who identifies as Plains Cree from the Sawridge Nation in Alberta, the event was created as a venue for celebration of Indigenous fashion design, as well as an important outlet for representation and innovation.

“I worked with youth in foster care, and they had very little representation to look up to,” Mitton, an industry veteran and co-founder of the first all-Indigenous modelling agency, Supernaturals Modelling, recalls. “When I introduced them to Indigenous fashion design, I saw how much it meant to them. So I knew I was on to something.”

Since its start seven years ago, VIFW has evolved into a premier event for fashion in Canada, according to Mitton.

“It’s a huge production honouring over 30 designers and 40 artisans and vendors from across Turtle Island (North America) with an incredible show for four nights,” Mitton summarizes of the event. 

The four nights of fashion feature individual themes: Red Dress Event (Nov. 20), honouring missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, two-spirit and LGBTQ individuals; All My Relations (Nov. 21), a couture celebration highlighting traditional design mixed with contemporary esthetic; Indigenous Futures (Nov. 22), a space for advocating for Indigenous futurism and sovereignty; and Spirit of the West Coast (Nov. 23), an evening of “signature West Coast” design and nature.

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The growth of the annual fashion event, which is billed as the first Indigenous fashion week in the world, is driven by a “thirst” for Indigenous culture, knowledge, creativity, art, beauty and sustainability.

“VIFW is one of the only opportunities for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people to gather in honour of these things in a way that’s centred in joy and celebration,” Mitton says.

With the aim of accelerating the impact and broadening the reach of the event, Mitton continually searches out ways to bring the VIFW initiative to non-fashion venues such as The Dress Your Spirit dinner, held at Salmon n’ Bannock Bistro in Vancouver on Oct. 24. Featuring a three-course dinner created by Cook and her team, the sold-out event featured designs and discussion with Yolonda Skelton of Suglit Lukxs Design.

Speaking from the inaugural dinner event, Cook underscored the importance of inclusivity around the food-fashion crossover event.

“Food brings everyone together. Any culture you go to, people can break bread together. Here, it’s bannock. And I think that’s amazing,” Cook says. “The big message is that if you support an Indigenous designer, that’s amazing.”

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“That celebration is not appropriation.”

In addition to longtime participant Skelton, who emphasis circular fashion, this year’s runway shows will be presented by designers such as artist and content creator Taalrumiq from Tuktuuyaqtuuq, Northwest Territories, Anishinaabe artist and designer Lesley Hampton, and renowned designer Pam Baker.

“For the last, almost three years, I have been working toward having my whole collection upcycled,” Skelton says of her creations, which include dresses, coats, neck ties and more, that will be featured on the VIFW runway.

Participating designers are selected with the help of the Wisdom Circle, a group of Indigenous artisans and knowledge keepers who help to ensure the event aligns with Indigenous values and promote cross-cultural understanding.

“The Wisdom Circle helps guide VIFW in a culturally safe way with different perspectives from elders and knowledge keepers from both local and other Nations across Turtle Island,” Mitton explains. “Collections are selected by jury, including some of our staff and Wisdom Circle members.”

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According to Skelton, an educator and longtime designer who was recently part of an international envoy of Indigenous designers who travelled to Switzerland to help draft a report on decolonizing the fashion industry and has also participated in VIFW for many years, the main motivator behind the event’s growth and success is Mitton herself.

“She’s a leader. And, when you see, everybody that is part of this team, we do this because we love her,” Skelton says. “Because, she has integrity. She has passion. It’s about the whole, and that is our philosophy, but it gets lost sometimes. But she helps to bring it back …

“We all do it to uplift the collective.”

In the future, Mitton hopes to grow VIFW, aiming for a bigger venue and more shows for future events, while also underscoring its emphasis on supporting and uplifting future generations of Indigenous designers and creatives. 

“We’re very excited to grow our youth mentorship and internship program along with our Indigenous entrepreneurship support program,” Mitton says. “Creating peer-to-peer learning opportunities for up-and-coming designers and makers to build their economic sovereignty by growing their businesses.”

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Aharris@postmedia.com

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