Indigenous Fashion Week Toronto

I am the Artistic Director at Indigenous Fashion Week Toronto, as well as a practicing artist in fashion and costume for artistic presentation, film, theatre and dance. While I predominantly anchor my practice in the arts, my work puts me at the intersection of art, culture, fashion and economy. In my 15 plus years of working professionally in the arts, at different times, as an administrator, programmer and artist, I have worked with hundreds of Indigenous artists across artistic disciplines who each hold a distinct artistic vision and a multi-faceted connection to their positioning, ancestry and culture. Art is a deeply-rooted form of expression and innately makes up an aspect of a unique culture. Because of that, art and culture are vast, complex, ancestral and evolutionary. I have experienced and been witness to incredible creation, progress and celebration in Indigenous arts and culture. However, everything exists on a spectrum and there is a flip side to those exciting achievements. Through my work I continue to experience and witness the impacts caused by the misuse, lack of understanding and theft of Indigenous culture for gain. In other words, cultural appropriation and its symptoms continue to act as a barrier in the success, advancement and representation of Indigenous people and our art and culture.

When most people think of cultural appropriation in fashion, craft and textiles, they are either tired of the topic or they are aware of this most common offense of cultural appropriation: the inaccurate telling of history and the misuse or theft of Indigenous imagery and symbolism. A non-Indigenous designer is inspired by Indigenous culture and creates a collection of Indigenous-inspired fashion based on no consultation or collaboration, little or no research and common stereotypes. This collection is founded on clumsy good intentions or the prospect of creating something “new” and salable. Often the defense for a collection like this is the designer was inspired by the beauty of Indigenous culture and was actually honouring it. For example, in 2015 a collection called “D-Squaw” by Canadian fashion house D-Squared defined its collection as “The enchantment of Canadian Indian tribes. The confident attitude of the British aristocracy. In a captivating play on contrasts: an ode to America’s native tribes meets the noble spirit of Old Europe.” The collection of clothing was scattered with geometric shapes, fur, embroidery and delicately woven designs inspired by Indigenous cultures over top British military-esque tailoring. There are a number of issues that come from that description. Firstly, the use of “D-Squaw” is a play on the derogatory and racist slur against Indigenous women, “Squaw”. Using racist slurs has very dangerous impacts that sustain and perpetuate hate, violence and ignorance. It is especially concerning to see the ignorant use of
a racial slur against Indigenous women meanwhile, Indigenous women face some of the highest rates of abuse and violence and are at risk of going missing or being murdered. Secondly, the description for this collection romanticizes and mythologizes the true events and current realities of the colonization of Indigenous Peoples by colonizers like the British. Finally, the skills and techniques used in the fashion collection to illustrate Indigenous culture erase and homogenize the symbolism, craft and importance of the hundreds of unique Indigenous cultures across North America and the millennia worth of knowledge held in those skills. These types of projects perpetuate an entitlement to exploit and steal from Indigenous Peoples to gain profit.

That overt type of cultural appropriation happens less and less as it becomes more widely known as being inauthentic, offensive, racist or grounds to foster racism. Today, when it comes to the creation of works by or about Indigenous and other diverse peoples, cultural appropriation is taboo and often at the forefront when considering the creation of cultural work. This perspective might be gaining popularity as it becomes more common practice to meet societal expectations for diversity and inclusivity across industries. Many organizations and companies are being held accountable to ensure the authenticity and integrity of the cultural work they create or are inspired by. However, most of these diversity initiatives are either only optical or one-sided. When one sees a seemingly “Indigenous” or “diverse” project, it is important to ask, “what happened behind the scenes of this project? What happened in the exchange of the collaboration or relationship?”. Currently, the most widely accepted way of holding creators accountable to accurate representation is through proof, such as showing diverse faces in a marketing campaign or checking the diversity box on a form. These tactics do not answer the above questions, nor do they prove that the Indigenous inclusion wasn’t merely a show or whether the Indigenous creator had agency in decision making.

For example, an Indigenous designer is hired on to an “Indigenous themed” project with a non-Indigenous leader. However, the leader has narrowed the job title to “Indigenous designer” and the job description outlines the responsibility to act as a consultant and not actually as a lead designer in a key creative role. In this scenario, the leader checks off the fact they have hired an Indigenous designer (but likely has also hired a key designer), they report the Indigenous designer has consulted on the project and declares the project as diverse and inclusive. In this case, the Indigenous designer has been exploited to support the leader’s vision in order to seal the project as “authentic” and “diverse”. There is no guarantee that the recommendations by the Indigenous designer would be enacted. In the end, the project is stamped to be culturally accurate from the outside, but internally the exchange and power in the relationship was not balanced. Inviting an Indigenous person onto a project while not giving them any or equal agency on the project is a symptom of cultural appropriation. The leader in this scenario lacked the understanding, experience and trust to work, communicate or collaborate with individuals outside of their mainstream frameworks (which are often covertly colonial).

There are a few reasons why a collaborator would not trust an Indigenous designer to carry out a leadership role including reasons like stereotypes and racism, a lack of understanding for how to plan to work between many cultural approaches, simply not knowing any Indigenous designers who have the industry experience required to carry out the project or because they sustain historically oppressive practices, which today is “covert colonialism”. When it comes to fashion or art or commerce, there is a connection to the historical oppression and exclusion of Indigenous Peoples and the cheap commodification of our art and culture. Pre-colonization, Indigenous art and culture was mostly utilitarian seen in fashion, pottery, architecture and nature, and was created with purpose and meaning, carrying an immense amount of value. Since colonization cultural, monetary and functional value of Indigenous-made works has been reduced to digestible and kitschy commodities or tokens. This impacts Indigenous artists today by having only token spaces to present or retail their work in, competing with a market of inauthentic Indigenous-inspired works, stereotypes or goods at much lower costs, or being forced to create works within Euro-centric standards to be recognized as a legitimate artist. For example, walking through a major art gallery, one might see paintings depicting Indigenous culture, a painting by one of a handful of idolized Indigenous visual artists or a special but temporary exhibition of contemporary Indigenous art. As one exits the gallery through the gift shop, a few prints of those paintings or some inexpensive trinkets made in China, like a piece of jewelry, can be purchased. Similarly, one could walk through a shopping mall and find inexpensive non-Indigenous-made Indigenous-inspired trinkets, jewelry and clothing. These examples are inauthentic or limited representations of Indigenous art in mainstream spaces presented to large audiences and another symptom of cultural appropriation. Utilitarian Indigenous-made art has little visibility in artistic institutions, nor has it been reliably acquired for retail in a way that contributes to a thriving Indigenous economy due to sustained historical practices and the subsequent perception of value.

Cultural appropriation has serious impacts on Indigenous people and communities through the theft and commodification of our art, poor perception of the worth or value of our art, misrepresentation of our image, mythologizing of history, breeding of racism, denial of leadership and decision-making or total exclusion, and continuation of impoverished economies. However, tools and solutions to combat cultural appropriation do exist and will continue to emerge. For them to work we must foster space, enforce policy and braid culture.

Fostering space for Indigenous arts and culture can take many forms, such as engaging an organization to lead a department in an institution, collaborating with an Indigenous artist, designer or collective as an equal, or inviting Indigenous artists or designers to contribute to policy and operations. An important and vital aspect of collaboration on any project is creating space for Indigenous leadership. For example, our team at Indigenous Fashion Week Toronto approached the Harbourfront Centre about presenting our festival in their venue. We work with the Harbourfront Centre as a partner and not as hired employees. Through this partnership we have had the autonomy and opportunity to build a festival that presents Indigenous fashion in artistic, educational and retail formats that positively impact the representation, visibility and understanding of Indigenous culture. In this relationship, the Harbourfront Centre has offered their expertise in producing our major festival, ensuring our autonomy in the production and programming of the festival and advocating for our work at an executive level. In having space by and for Indigenous artists and designers in fashion, craft and textiles, we are provided the capacity to engage further partnerships that support, foster and promote Indigenous artists and their work such as through partnerships with Simon’s department store, the Art Gallery of Ontario and Nuit Blanche. Our festival and partnerships like these have had great impacts on the artists we work with. We have seen artists go on to present at the Tate Museum in London, UK and other major art galleries, sustain full-time online retail businesses, and launch leading businesses in the fashion industry.

While Indigenous creators and leaders like us are taking the initiative to establish spaces like Indigenous Fashion Week Toronto, there is a responsibility by non-Indigenous leaders to enforce by-laws to protect Indigenous culture, art and communities. In February 2020, the New York City Commission on Human Rights enacted their responsibility by coming to a settlement with Prada in regard to Prada’s 2018 retail and marketing campaign “Pradamalia”, which included small toys resembling black face. As a result of enforcing zero tolerance against racism and cultural appropriation, the New York-based staff and Milan-based executives of Prada will be undergoing cultural training and Prada is ordered to provide the diversity makeup of their staff for six years. Two other excellent examples for how the protection of Indigenous arts and culture can be enforced is the Indian Arts and Craft Act, which is a truth-in-advertising law that prohibits misrepresentation of Indigenous products in the United States. It is illegal to offer or display for sale or sell any art or craft that falsely suggests it is Indigenous-made, is an Indigenous product, or the product of a particular Nation of Indigenous Peoples or organization. The Navajo nation was protected under this law and trademark when Urban Outfitters used the Navajo nation’s name to sell a pair of “Navajo Hipster Panties”, which had nothing to do with the Indigenous nation. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has also created “Protect and Promote Your Culture: A Practical Guide to Intellectual Property for Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities” which outlines how western intellectual property law can protect Indigenous culture. WIPO has taken steps to share knowledge and engage Indigenous communities to support Indigenous creators with the tools to continue to create work while also protecting it.

Providing resources, knowledge and training to Indigenous and non-Indigenous people is vital in ensuring the protection of Indigenous-made works and Indigenous culture. However, the most important part of creating meaningful and respectful Indigenous-made works, cultural works or fostering diverse relationships is being aware of and engaging how we work together. A publication called “Towards Braiding” by Elwood Jimmy and Vanessa Andreotti has coined the philosophy of “braiding” for professional and institutional relationships. Braiding is a philosophy and guideline for navigating Indigenous and non-Indigenous relationships that invites all collaborators to lead and work together without erasing each other’s ways of knowing, cultural values or methods for realization. The goal is to braid relationships that don’t tokenize or exploit Indigenous inclusion and rather contribute to strong working relationships through shared processes and experiences. This can become a challenging task, as established sets of rules and methods will have to evolve, grow and adapt to include new ways of working.

An example of this is a project between Indigenous Fashion Week Toronto and the Canadian department store Simon’s. The way Indigenous artists and designers are creating and selling their work is very different to how Simon’s typical fashion wholesaler is creating and selling their work. Indigenous artists are mostly creating at a small scale and with small teams or a team of one. They are typically creating designs using practices and imagery from or based on generations of cultural knowledge. There are certain works designers or artists that will create specifically for family, ceremony, or anyone and it is at the artists discretion to follow cultural and familial protocols for where and how their work is presented or sold. Finally, there is a strong Indigenous market that supports the “slow fashion” model of production, honours the meaning of the works, understands who the work is for, and understands the great value of these works as art and culture. On the other side, typically, a mainstream wholesaler is producing on-trend garments with large teams and with the intentions to make great profits. Their audiences are typically self-driven and unaware of the practices or intentions of the mainstream wholesaler’s work. Working as a facilitator and liaison in the process, Indigenous Fashion Week Toronto partnered with Simon’s and a curated group of eight Indigenous artists and designers to embellish a capsule collection designed by Simon’s, to be sold at the Simon’s department store. In this collaboration, the goal was to ensure all collaborators were heard and provided the necessary resources to succeed. Instead of Simon’s expecting Indigenous Fashion Week Toronto and the curated designers and artists of the project to deliver how wholesalers typically would, Indigenous Fashion Week Toronto and Simon’s entered a partnership in a thoughtful and reciprocal way, having flexibility and accommodation along the way. Considerations included actions around: ensuring creative freedom for the artists, creating adequate and realistic timelines and payment schedules, managing and negotiating risks for all collaborators, and leading the narrative in and execution of all PR and promotions. This collection has yet to go to market at the time of this publication, however we anticipate the project will be successful for how consumers and audiences receive the collection, based on the quality and variety of work from the artists and response from media.

Historically and into today cultural appropriation has clearly created barriers and oppression against Indigenous people through inaccurate telling of history and the misuse or theft of Indigenous imagery and symbolism, tokenized diverse faces in marketing campaign or
as a checkmark on the diversity box of a form or sustained historically oppressive practices. While hearing an Indigenous person continue to flag those realities is often processed as menial complaints, it is important to acknowledge where we have been to get to where we want to go. Encouraging diverse cultures to work together is political. It is important to make decisions that apply to all those in our communities and that includes fostering spaces for
new perspectives, enforcing policy and guidelines that protect people, and meaningfully braiding cultures. I was taught to know that what I do today will impact individuals living seven generations from now. To envision a thriving future of interconnection in a global society, we must work together and trust each other as equal collaborators where we have the best interests for all those involved, as a whole.