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CTV News
19 hours ago
- Entertainment
- CTV News
Lesley Hampton taps into Indigenous heritage for Toronto Fashion Week debut
Fashion designer Lesley Hampton poses for a photograph in a shared fashion space at the Toronto Fashion Incubator in Toronto on Monday, February 4, 2019. Emerging designer Lesley Hampton has woven fashion with activism ever since she launched her brand three years ago. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette) Emerging designer Lesley Hampton has woven fashion with activism ever since she launched her brand three years ago. That meant runway shows that championed body positivity, the importance of mental health and the value of diversity and inclusivity. But missing was a core part of her identity as an Indigenous designer, and she says that's what takes centre stage with her debut at Toronto Fashion Week this week. 'There was always this gap that I was questioning and this collection really let me dive into how being Indigenous influences my design and influences my creation of work,' Hampton says when reached at her Toronto studio as she attended to last-minute details for Wednesday's show. 'I grew up internationally and my mom was adopted so we didn't grow up kind of involved in the culture. I've been using my fashion design to reconnect with my roots and re-learn certain teachings and educational things that I didn't learn, didn't really know about growing up.' Hampton is part of Temagami First Nation but was born in St. John's, N.L., and grew up around the world -- stops included England, Australia, New Caledonia, and Indonesia, as well as Alberta and the Northwest Territories. The 24-year-old began diving deeply into her Indigenous heritage last November when she attended a workshop for Indigenous entrepreneurial development, and started to focus on how her own fragmented family history has shaped her identity as a designer. Hampton notes her own mother has struggled with this, too, and reconnected with her birth mother as she was growing up. Hampton is proud to now continue that journey by reclaiming more of their culture and language -- for both of them. 'Even down to learning how to say, 'Hello' in Ojibwe or Anishinaabemowin, little things like that that neither of us know but now I can attempt to say it to her is really exciting,' she says. It hasn't come without scrutiny, she admits, pointing to her own efforts to reconcile her mixed background. 'It's very much a colonial concept to ask myself: How Indigenous am I?' Or, 'Am I Indigenous enough to put on a collection like this, given the fact that I didn't grow up in the culture?'' says Hampton, whose father is of Scottish background. 'But I am Indigenous, I'm very proud to be. The gatekeeping that is a learned concept is what I'm breaking down within the brand -- gatekeeping around identity, or gatekeeping around certain body-beauty norms.' Her fall/winter collection -- dubbed 'Eighteen Seventy Six' for the year the Indian Act was passed -- includes beaded knit, pleated pleather, crepe and cashmere but doesn't draw directly from Indigenous design traditions or craft. Instead, Hampton says she incorporates historical references, such as the use of nude tulle that is embroidered with red dots to represent missing and murdered Indigenous women. Her show will also include accessories by Helen Oro Designs Inc. and Iskwew Rising, mukluks from Manitobah Mukluks and appliqued Indigenous beadwork by Roberta Anderson. And all of her runway models identify as Indigenous, a goal that Hampton says was a challenge to achieve. 'We found that there was a lack of representation of Indigenous talent in Toronto within the agencies and just on the runway in general,' she notes. Hampton turned to friends and community connections to round out her roster, enlisting actress/model Jade Willoughby, as well as actress Tiio Horn and the 2015 Mrs. Universe, Ashley Callingbull. As in previous shows, she expects her models will be a range of sizes from 2 to 16. Hampton's rise through the industry has been quick -- an early show for Vancouver Fashion Week just three months after starting her brand landed her in British Vogue. Another boost came when Kim Kardashian shared Hampton's fall/winter 2017 showcase on Facebook because it featured Boston-bombing victim Adrianne Haslet, an amputee with a prosthetic leg, as a runway model. Hampton says it 'would be a dream come true' to meet and work with any of the Kardashians. She'd also like to be a red carpet celebrity designer along the lines of her professional idol, Christian Siriano, a champion for plus-size fashion and diversity on the world stage. Wherever her career takes her, activism and style will always go hand-in-hand. 'Because fashion is such a first step towards what clothes are put up, who wears what and what bodies are 'allowed' to wear what, I think it's a great platform to start with this messaging.' Other showcases at Toronto Fashion Week include the cruelty-free womenswear brand Hilary MacMillan, luxury evening wear and bridal brand Mani Jassal and a special collection from David Dixon titled BUBL x David Dixon, which incorporates bubble wrap to raise awareness about the issues facing Canadians affected by osteoporosis. Toronto Fashion Week wraps Thursday. Casandra Szklarski, The Canadian Press
The Guardian
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘A lot of pride and joy': the First Nations team representing Australia at the Venice Biennale of Architecture
Australia's participation in next year's Venice Biennale remains under a cloud. With Creative Australia holding fast to its decision to cancel its commission of artist Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino, it's becoming increasingly likely that the Australian Pavilion might remain dark in 2026. It is an added weight for the First Nations team who have unveiled their new creation inside the pavilion as part of Venice's other biennale: the Venice Biennale of Architecture, held every other year in the Giardini. The seven designers, collectively working under the moniker The Creative Sphere, are the first all Indigenous team Australia has sent to Venice. Tasked with introducing Indigenous concepts of building, design and connection to Country to the world, they have painstakingly reconstructed their rammed-earth, 4.8 metre by nine metre prototype called Home, first created at the University of Sydney. Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning Hand-built from scratch from sustainable materials – clay, plaster and plywood – sourced from within the Veneto region, Home's construction relied on barges travelling up Venice's canals and off-loading at the base of the Australian pavilion's elevated site. From there, wheelbarrows and makeshift ramps were the only means of transporting the building materials inside. Home's walls are made from 139 individually cast plaster panels, each of which required a minimum of five to six people to make. 'The oils of our skins are embedded throughout this entire exhibition,' says Worimi and Biripi Guri architect Jack Gillmer-Lilley, of SJB Architecture in Sydney and part of The Creative Sphere. It is his hope that Home will encourage each visitor to the Australian Pavilion to embrace their unique relationship with the concept of home. 'For me, the definition keeps changing, it's not tangible,' he says. 'I never had a stable home growing up. There was lot of family trauma, there's a lot of stories of happiness, a lot of sadness and we were always moving around. Home for me is where I can feel connected with my family, regardless of where in the world I am at the time.' For Quandamooka architect Bradley Kerr, home used to be 'where Mum is'; now the father-of-two defines home as wherever he can 'share in his son's smile and stupid fart jokes'. 'We didn't want to impose a feeling or an image or an idea on to people,' he adds. 'We wanted people to find something they relate to and connect to, because for us as First Nations people, it's one of the ways that we relate to and connect with each other, and it's something that we felt we really needed to share within this space.' The Creative Sphere team were working when the news broke that Sabsabi and Dagostino had been sacked by Creative Australia, the producers of their biennale project (with the Australian Institute of Architects, which commissions them). The architects shared a statement in solidarity with the artist, writing on Instagram: 'As First Nations people, we respond to this act of censorship, exclusion and marginalisation with disappointment and concern.' Although the project never started with it in mind, Home became the team's response to the defeat of the voice referendum in 2023. 'We're still trying to demonstrate that we want to move forward together, and that we want to celebrate and share our culture with Australian people,' says Kerr. 'We want to continue to be generous, in spite of all the backlash, the racism that we have to manage and juggle and face on a daily and weekly basis. Sign up to Saved for Later Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia's culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips after newsletter promotion 'People want, and expect, marginalised people to feel all of that deep sadness and trauma. But our strength comes from joy, in spite of all of the challenges that we face. Joy in itself can be an act of resistance.' Last year, a primary school in Sydney's Darlington took out the highest prize at the World Architectural festival in Singapore, praised for its celebration of the school's 'strong connections to Aboriginal people' and its incorporation of Indigenous art and design . The same architectural firm, FJC Studio, also designed the Yellamundie library in south-west Sydney, which was named one of the world's four most beautiful new libraries in September. While only 0.3% of architecture students graduating from Australian universities identify as First Nations, multiple projects recently recognised by the AIA have incorporated connection to country at the centre of their design, including Spinifex Hill Project Space, Mildura's Powerhouse Place, Darwin's Nungalinya student accommodation project, and the North Head viewing platforms. 'We're getting stronger and stronger engagement with Indigenous place, country and the influence of Indigenous thinking around how buildings work … and how they actually speak to the significance of a place,' former AIA president Stuart Tanner told the Guardian in December. 'This is a whole other layer to architecture which is going to, I believe, elevate Australian architecture to a level far beyond what traditionally people might think architects do.' When the Venice Biennale of Architecture concludes, Home will be manually dismantled, all its materials returned to the landscape they came from. No screws, adhesives or metal fixings were used in Home's construction. 'It was a tough build,' Gillmer-Lilley says. 'The amount of energy, the amount of emotions that were put in the creation of this … but it gives us a lot of pride and joy in the outcome.'
