Presenting progressive, distinct and exceptional fashion, textiles and craft by Indigenous artists at the intersection of art, fashion and culture.
The biennial Indigenous Fashion Arts Festival (IFAF) will take place June 9-12, 2022, at Harbourfront Centre in Toronto, Ontario. The Indigenous Fashion Arts Festival will present runway shows, a marketplace featuring over 60 designers, plus panels, workshops, and exclusive online content.
Each night the Indigenous Fashion Arts Festival will host a theatrically-produced runway show – Eternal Imaginaries (June 9), Sovereign Matriarchs presented by CIBC (June 10), Time Weavers presented by La Maison Simons (June 11) and A Letter from Home (June 12) – at Harbourfront Centre Theatre with 25 multigenerational designers from Canada with international guests. The 2022 IFAF designers are: Amy Malbeuf (Métis), Anne Mulaire(Anishinaabe/French Métis), Arctic Luxe (Inupiaq), BIBI CHEMNITZ(Greenlandic Inuit), Celeste Pedri-Spade (Anishinabe), Curtis Oland (Lil’Wat-Canadian), D’arcy Moses (Dene), EMME Studio (Puyallup), Evan Ducharme(Metis), Ix Balam (Petén Guatemala), Janelle Wawia (Opwaaganasiniing), Kadusné (Caucasian/Filipino/Alaska Native), Lesley Hampton (Anishinaabe), Livia Manywounds (Dene/Blackfoot/Sioux), Margaret Jacobs (Akwesasne Mohawk), Maru Creations (Māori), MAWO (Wichi), Michel Dumont (Ojibway French), mobilize waskawewin (Cree), Niio Perkins Designs (Iroquois), qaulluq (Inupiaq), Robyn McLeod (Dene), Section 35 (Cree), and Swirling Wind Designs (Anishnaabe).
An IFAF Video Collection will accompany the runway shows with a program featuring short videos shot and directed by each runway designer at their homes and studios on the land with iPhone 13 Pro. IFA will broadcast each video exclusively online before each runway on IFA social media and website.
The Indigenous Fashion Arts Marketplace, presented by Today’s Shopping Choice, will be open June 10-12 at Harbourfront Centre’s Lakeview Market for the public to shop with over 60 exhibitors in fashion, craft, textiles, jewelry, gifts, and more. The Marketplace will feature a dynamic range of creators with sections including The Showroom, From The Pow Wow Trail, Made From The Land, Designs To Keep Warm To, Trending, For Beadwork Lovers, Aunty Glam, Grassroots and Local, and the Manitoba Spotlight.
IFAF will also host academic-focused panels and hands-on workshops open to the public. The IFAF Fashioning Resurgence Panel Series, presented by The School of Fashion at the Toronto Metropolitan University with the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, includes Digital Natives: Opportunities and Risks in New Technology For Indigenous Fashion Creatives To Know; Fashion Performance: In Conversation with Kent Monkman; Sarotial Sovereignty: Indigenous Governance Models for Fashion; All My Relations: Maintaining Reciprocal Relationships for Successful Partnerships; Anti-Fashion: Resisting The Fashion Establishment; Women In The Fur Trade: Tradition, History and Truths From Indigenous Women; and Orange Shirt Day: Fashion as a Tool for Sovereignty and Healing.
IFAF Workshops, supported by Miziwe Biik Aboriginal Employment and Training, include a four day Hide Tanning workshop with Amber Sandy and Kanina Terry; Learn to Bead Vamps & Speak James Bay Cree with Rosary Spence, who will teach the class in English and James Bay Cree, teaching basic Cree words related to beading; and Regalia Applique for Beginners with Rhonda Doxtator.
Indigenous Fashion Arts sustains Indigenous practices in fashion, craft and textiles through designer-focused initiatives, public engagement and sector innovation. Their primary activity is the biennial Indigenous Fashion Arts Festival. IFA’s programming and initiatives illuminate and celebrate Indigenous people and cultures. With a commitment to Indigenous woman-identifying people in leadership, IFA strives to nurture the deep connections between mainstream fashion, Indigenous art and traditional practice with amplified visibility.
