Web series shines a spotlight on Indigenous designers

A new web series aims to give a platform to Indigenous designers, whose clothing, jewelry, and wearable art are making their way in the fashion world.

Michaella Montana's YouTube series Behind the Seams was shot in Toronto in collaboration with the Indigenous Fashion Arts festival. It explores the creative philosophies and design esthetics of Indigenous designers from around the world.

“Indigenous designers have been exploited and misappropriated for decades and this can give them a chance to reclaim their voices,” said Montana.

“I want them to be in the same running as the huge fashion houses and brands because their work deserves it. We have so much talent that comes from our Indigenous communities and it's going unnoticed."

Montana, a former correspondent for etalk, is from Frog Lake First Nation in Alberta but lives in Regina.

Montana interviewed designers from all over the world and said she wanted to focus on how Indigenous fashion is the original couture fashion because there's intent behind every stitch, every design, every placement of bead or placement of appliqué. 

“Sometimes you just look at a garment and you're like, 'oh, it's just a dress,' but it's more than just a dress," said Montana.

"Each designer is putting their own medicine, time and energy into everything that they're making.”

Kayla Lookinghorse-Smith, one of the designers featured, said it's nice for Indigenous designers to be given a chance to speak for themselves on their designs.

Lookinghorse-Smith, who is from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, but also represents the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and lives in Fort Yates, N.D., likes to incorporate her Lakota and Dakota culture into her designs but makes sure to consult with family on what she can and can’t use.

Lookinghorse-Smith said her recent collection We Come From the Stars is about star knowledge and wanting people to remember those stories and the spiritual world.

“Our history — it's so rich that storytelling just isn’t enough,” said Lookinghorse-Smith.

Lookinghorse-Smith said she didn't have any formal training, but uses every opportunity to learn a new technique, or study sewing history and textiles.

Lookinghorse-Smith recently moved back home and she wants to step away from elegant designs and hopes to be inspired by her community in rougher, more Western designs.

Influenced by traditions

Agnes Yellow Bear, founder of ReeCreeations, is from Kawacatoose First Nation in Saskatchewan but lives in Newtown, N.D. She said she got involved with the Indigenous Fashion Arts festival after she submitted a dress to the festival in 2020.

“My design was plastered all over downtown Toronto and I couldn't believe it," said Yellow Bear.

"I just was so grateful for being embraced and uplifted in that way."

The dress Yellow Bear submitted was titled Still Here and was a contemporary take on a tea dress with designs from top to bottom including ribbons.

Yellow Bear said her sewing aspirations started when she became a mom and wanted her babies to dance powwow, so she learned to make their outfits on her own.

Her mom was a Sixties Scoop survivor and her dad was a residential school survivor.

“I feel like there was that interruption in some of those teachings and cultural things that could have been passed down and I think that affects a lot of our people,” said Yellow Bear.

Yellow Bear said designers like herself can always be inspired by their ancestors and historical photos of floral or geometric designs, colours and the layouts that inspire today's fashion.

“It's OK for us to express ourselves in a contemporary way that is influenced by our traditions,” said Yellow Bear.

"That's perfectly normal, but just respecting each other's protocol — that is not going to be the same across the board."

Yellow Bear said her new collection will be called Moonlit Resilience, a tribute to her mom and aunties who would dress up in fur coats, red lipstick, and sequin dresses in Regina and Saskatoon.

“They always looked so beautiful and I think that regardless of what they were carrying as Indigenous women, they still showed up in their best fashion," said Yellow Bear.

Montana said the series premieres this week on her YouTube channel, and is looking to make a second season.