Programs
IFA Programs
IFWTO X EDITO PAR SIMONS
Launched in Spring 2020, Indigenous Fashion Arts, formerly known as Indigenous Fashion Week Toronto (IFWTO), united forces with Simons to create a limited capsule collection with Indigenous artists from communities across Canada.
Learn MoreMasterclass
Communicating your narrative and honouring our stories is the most important part of Indigenous fashion. Using case studies of Indigenous…
Learn MoreArtificial Intelligence: Professional Support or Social Detriment?
The discourse concerning Artificial Intelligence in the realm of Indigenous fashion revolves around the role of AI as either a…
Learn MoreColours, Materials and Symbols
Fashion is a rich and complex visual language that communicates meaning. Indigenous fashion embodies our diverse cultural values with aesthetic…
Learn MoreMasterclass: Grant Writing for Fashion Arts
This Masterclass demystifies grant writing jargon and processes for artists working in fashion, craft and textiles. Grant writing plays a…
Learn MoreFashion Business
Platforms like IFWTO and digital spaces like Instagram offer a degree of sovereignty for Indigenous creatives in fashion. As the…
Learn MoreIn Conversation
Christi Belcourt is a Michif (Metis) visual artist and community activist with a deep respect for Mother Earth and the…
Learn MoreSustainability: A Double-Edged Sword
This panel addresses a critical dichotomy facing Indigenous people working in fashion, craft and textiles and those who purchase their…
Learn MoreFashion in Galleries & Museums: Exhibition, Systemic Procedures, Repatriation and Ownership
This panel delves into the challenging and multifaceted relationship between Indigenous fashion and the art world. It provides a critical…
Learn MoreConnection to Ancestral Knowledge
Artist Jaad Kuujus has described her woven works as threads that connect to ancestral knowledge. Visualizing the strong connections between…
Learn MoreMindful Merchandising: Reframing Value in a Consumer Culture
This panel will explore the shifting landscapes of value in our consumer-driven society and the intersection of mainstream commerce, artistic…
Learn MoreFashion Journalism
The dissemination of Indigenous-made fashion through media will be an integral part of the emerging movement’s success, but increased visibility…
Learn MoreThe Eagle and The Condor
There is a long history of trade and connection between the Indigenous people of the Americas. Revitalizing and sustaining these…
Learn MoreLand-Based Fashion
While the mainstream fashion industry fumbles to balance its capitalist values and new commitments to environmental protection, Indigenous creators in…
Learn MoreBeading Table Discussions
In 2020 beading circles across Turtle Island went virtual, ensuring that community support and kinship ties remained strong despite the…
Learn MoreIndigenous Fashion Education
As a key component of the mainstream fashion system, fashion schools and educators have a unique role in shaping the…
Learn MoreTu Gh’eh Nah // Water is Life
The opening night programs features fashion, craft and textiles for protest and sovereignty. Featuring streetwear, bright colours, messages of protection…
Learn MoreTu Cho // Lake
Water covers over 70% of the earth’s surface. Since time immemorial, the great oceans have acted as both barrier and…
Learn MoreTu Gh’eg Tl’e’th // Streams
Rivers and streams are the veins of the earth, integral to sustaining life on land. Practices in fashion and craft…
Learn MoreTu Gh’el T’ilhn // Water carriers
The Closing Night Program will honour and celebrate womxn as water carriers. Foregrounding IFTWO‘s mandate to program over 50% Indigenous…
Learn MoreQuill Weaving with Arsene Betsidea
This four-day workshop on weaving porcupine quills is based on ancient techniques passed down to Arsene Betsidea by generations of…
Learn MoreMadder Root Dyeing with Carola Jones
In this two-day workshop, participants will work with red madder root dye to create a medicine cloth. This medicine is…
Learn MoreMetalwork with Mathew Nuqingaq
In this two-day workshop, participants will learn to make copper, brass, or silver jewelry from renowned metalsmith artist Mathew Nuqingaq.…
Learn MoreMy Tender Bundle
My Tender Bundle, is a demonstration of family justice and radical caregiving. In the face of colonial and systemic tactics…
Learn MoreFierce + Fearless
The resilience and ingenuity of Indigenous designers are showcased in Fierce + Fearless. Their collections confront colonization, loudly challenging social…
Learn MoreFrom This Ground We Grow
From This Ground We Grow, the designers showcase their deep connections to place. Their functional and ornate designs recall land-based…
Learn MoreMaterialize
Materialize, dives into the fascinating realm of material culture. These diverse collections unite traditional and contemporary approaches in harvesting and…
Learn MoreBeading on Leather
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Learn MoreBlack Walnut Dyeing
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Learn MoreIndigo Dyeing
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Learn MoreNavajo Rug Weaving
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Learn MoreRavenstail Weaving
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Learn MoreFashion & Indigenous Futurisms
Understanding how traditional and current-day reclamation and sovereignty of Indigenous culture influences and defines technology and innovation in fashion.
Learn MoreCultural (In)Appropriation
Copyright of fashion is legally not possible. Consequently, “borrowing” from other cultures is strongly encouraged and common practice among mainstream…
Learn MoreIndigenous Entrepreneurship
A practical panel discussion for artist and designer entrepreneurs, with a focus on maintaining your artistic practice as a business,…
Learn MoreStorytelling & Symbolism
Keynote with Kent Monkman that unravels fashion, crafts and textiles beyond commercialism and capitalism and looks at Indigenous fashion, craft…
Learn MoreIndigenous Dyes & Fibres
A three-part lecture, each presenter will introduce knowledge of traditional and sustainable materials for weaving and dyeing, including indigo, black…
Learn MoreHARVESTMOON
An intergenerational honouring of our matriarchs, design and story that passes through generations with our matriarchs.
Learn More2023 IFA Trade Program
The 2023 IFA Trade Program connected Indigenous designers to a range of platforms for the dissemination, export and sale of their work, including WHITE Milano; Canadian Creator Accelerator; Original, Mexico; and a ROM Pop-up.
Learn MoreTest Art exhibit
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Learn More2019 INTERNATIONAL FASHION SHOWCASE
The International Fashion Showcase (IFS) nurtures and presents work from the most exciting fashion talent from around the world. Working in partnership, British Council, British Fashion Council, London College of Fashion
Learn MoreNetwork Weave
The Network advocates for Indigenous methodologies and nurtures supportive networks across fashion, the arts, and commerce through various research and activities in advocacy, professional development and sector development.
Learn MoreFriday Night Market
The Friday Night Market is an open-air lake view fair held at nighttime featuring entertainment from ELMNT FM! We invite…
Learn MoreOpening Night Party
Celebrate the launch of the festival at the Opening Night Party with entertainment, food and refreshments following the Eternal Imaginaries…
Learn MoreWelcome Gathering
Launch the IFA Festival with us! Enjoy welcoming remarks from Grandma Pauline Shirt, festival artists and the IFA team with…
Learn MoreHide Tanning
A four-day hands-on brain hide tanning workshop with Amber Sandy and Kanina Terry. Brain tanning is the art of preserving…
Learn MoreLearn to Bead Vamps & Speak James Bay Cree
Participants will learn two-needle applique beading and make beaded vamps for moccasins. Facilitator Rosary Spence will teach the class in…
Learn MoreRegalia Applique for Beginners
In this introductory workshop on applique for regalia, Rhonda Doxtator will teach traditional applique methods for Pow Wow regalia, including…
Learn MoreEternal Imaginaries
Eternal Imaginaries represents a fantastical and sometimes playfully absurd horizon, repurposing social narratives and colonial silhouettes. It is a sartorial…
Learn MoreSovereign Matriarchs
Sovereign Matriarchs honours women as knowledge carriers, teachers and role models; It is a reflection of kinship, stewardship and love.…
Learn MoreTime Weavers
Time Weavers is a continuum of presence that carries history from one family member’s hands to the next. It is…
Learn MoreA Letter from Home
The burst of a blueberry between your teeth, the sound of fish hooks clanging, laughter echoing from your neighbours’ house…
Learn MoreDigital Natives: Opportunities and Risks in New Technology for Indigenous Fashion Creatives to Know
From TikTok to online retail, new technologies transform the fashion industry to support diverse representation, propagate authentic expression and create…
Learn MoreFashion Performance: In conversation with Kent Monkman
This panel explores fashion performance and performativity in conversation with Kent Monkman, the renowned artist who “married” Jean-Paul Gaultier in…
Learn MoreSartorial Sovereignty: Indigenous Governance Models for Fashion
Indigenous nations worldwide have sustained complex governance systems to manage their citizens and territories since time immemorial. Today, many Indigenous…
Learn MoreAnti-Fashion: Resisting the Fashion Establishment
Anti fashion is coined broadly as fashion that is contrary to its present trends. Rather than creating fashion works that…
Learn MoreIFA Association Town Hall
Indigenous Fashion Arts is hosting a Town Hall to initiate the new IFA Association that is member-driven and advocates for…
Learn MoreOrange Shirt Day: Fashion as a Tool for Sovereignty and Healing
Today, wearing an orange shirt is a prominent symbol that commemorates survivors and victims of the Indian Residential School System.…
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