Vancouver’s Indigenous Fashion Week (VIFW) was an eye-opening experience for the NWT designers in attendance and the ticket-holders who filed into the host Queen Elizabeth Theatre to see their work, according Yellowknife’s Cheryl Fennell.
“It’s absolutely amazing,” the Métis designer said from Vancouver. “We’ve never been part of anything this big.”
“My stuff has been really well received as well, and I think that, in a way, it’s because we’re from the North and we use different materials than the people here,” she added. “They haven’t seen anything like this.”
VIFW ran from Nov. 20 to 23. Fennell was part of a cohort of nine NWT designers attending the event with NWT Arts, a division of the territorial government that supports the arts industry.
On Nov. 21, she had 15 looks showcased on the runway. The looks were linked by the theme “drums in my heart,” and each model wore a small drum necklace in keeping with the theme. Her pieces on display included pants, vests, dresses, skirts, jewellery, and perhaps most notably, a sealskin puffer jacket that “everybody was going crazy for.”
“How many people have ever seen a seal puffer jacket?” Fennell said. “It’s really cool.”
“People are just going crazy over my stuff, and I don’t think I’m alone in that, they’re doing the same for the others,” she added. “People are so supportive.”
Andrea Fowler, a Yellowknives Dene First Nation designer who travelled to Vancouver to sell her jewellery at the VIFW marketplace, offered a similar account of things.
It was Fowler’s first show outside the NWT, and she was moved by the support she received from attendees and other designers alike.
“A real big highlight for me was designer Yolanda [Skelton] bought some of my earrings as gifts for her models,” she said. “I’ve been getting a lot of positive feedback and encouragement.”
Fowler had the chance to meet many other Indigenous designers and celebrities at VIFW. Many quickly became sources of inspiration and some even became friends.
“I’m inspired to create more and I’ve really been in awe with all the Indigenous fashion,” she said. “I’ve become friends with some of the other NWT artists as well. They have more experience than I do, so I can learn from them and now I have them as mentors.”
Meeting Indigenous celebrities like Tantoo Cardinal and hoop-dancing social media star James Jones, she added, was also “so great.”
Fennell was no less impressed by the talent she encountered in Vancouver.
“I would say every single look that I’ve seen the last three evenings in the show is amazing,” she said.
As the VIFW wrapped up, both designers said they hope their attendance will lead to increased business, having met many potential customers over the course of the week.
Both are also already plotting their next move.
Fennell may show her designs at other shows in the near future, but said she is “really, really intrigued by art” and may focus some of her efforts on installation art for the time being.
Fowler, on the other hand, said she is excited to attend other big shows in the future, and that she plans to apply to join NWT Arts at the Indigenous Fashion Arts Festival in Toronto in late May.
She’ll also be applying to return to VIFW next year.
“I wouldn’t mind going to the Toronto one, and they have a few other ones that are gonna be coming up,” she said. “So definitely, I’ll put my name in for those.”