Blazing a trail on the catwalk and beyond

Sage Paul grew up watching the women in her life sew, bead and craft. She turned these skills into a career, and has been dreaming and designing clothes for over a decade. But clothes aren’t the only things she wants to create. As the executive and artistic director of Indigenous Fashion Arts, Sage also creates opportunities for other Indigenous designers to find success in the fashion industry. This past February, the Dene designer and artist led a delegation all the way to Milan Fashion Week.

Two people who were part of the team that Sage took to Milan Fashion Week were Anishinabe designer Lesley Hampton and Metis designer Evan Ducharme. Their stories are woven into the fabrics of history and shared across generations through the clothes they create. While the two young designers never saw themselves included within the fashion industry as children, they’re now bringing the change they wanted to see to international runways.

Indigenous people are not just behind the runway curtain creating fabulous clothes.

They’re also modeling them. From TikTok to the catwalk, Michelle Chubb knows what it takes to make it as an Indigenous woman in the fashion world. This past February, the 25 year-old Swampy Cree model joined 2Spirit fashion designer Scott Wabano at New York Fashion Week.

Michelle was part of a group of mostly Indigenous models to showcase their work.