Post by Okwes on Jul 10, 2006 16:11:15 GMT -5
First Nations fashion raising its profile
Elizabeth Withey
CanWest News Service
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
See photos here: www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/news/arts_life/story.html?id=6d95bf13-1077-4ef3-9932-64b9836a7590&k=81850
CREDIT: CanWest photos; Graphic designer Linda Rea-Rosseker, Leader-Post
(Top) Gerald Auger wears the breastplate he created for about $20; (bottom left to right) Auger wears a leather coat by Alberta Cree designer Patricia Piche. The woman in the middle is wearing clothing by Pam Baker, while the others are wearing designs by Shannon Kilroy.
EDMONTON -- Heads turn when Gerald Auger wears his bead-and-leather breastplate at Tim Hortons.
"I have my people coming up and saying, 'I've never seen anyone wearing a breastplate in downtown Edmonton before,' " the Cree actor and filmmaker says. "Or my non-aboriginal brothers come up and say, 'My God, what is that?' "
Auger's bold style has caused some minor injuries, too.
"People walk into cars because they're looking at me and not paying attention to where they're going," he says.
First Nations people traditionally donned breastplates as armour. But Auger wears the vestment, which resembles a ribcage, over his everyday clothing to demonstrate his Cree pride.
"I use it to accessorize, to put a statement out there that it's who I am and what I'm about," he says. "I've always been one to march to my own beat."
Auger made the breastplate in four hours with the help of a how-to Web site and $20 worth of craft supplies. Now when he wears it to festivals and public speaking events, people offer to buy it for as much as $1,000. Some ask permission to take his picture because they have never seen "a live, walkin' talkin' Indian." Once, a group of Italians greeted him by raising their right palms and saying, "How."
Auger says he chuckled at their ignorance. "It was cute."
Dreamspeakers film festival director Helen Calahasen says Auger's confidence in dressing "the aboriginal look" makes him a role model for others.
"Gerald's not afraid of people who say, 'Look at that Indian,' " Calahasen says. "He says, 'Here I am, warts and all.' "
Auger also enjoys being a fashion "billboard" for contemporary aboriginal designers, whose works are seen with increasing frequency on runways across Canada. In April, Vancouver Fashion Week showcased aboriginal designs at their kick-off event, Cultural Reflections 2006. Auger says it helped raise awareness that First Nations designers create edgy, modern looks.
"A lot of people, when they hear 'aboriginal fashion,' think it's all buckskin, feathers and leather," he says. "It's very mainstream fashion as well. It just has that traditional inspiration from our symbolism, imagery of who we are as aboriginal people."
Patricia Piche, a designer based in Gibbons, Alta., just northeast of Edmonton, creates contemporary applique leather coats and bags using the beadworking skills her grandmother taught her as a girl.
"As I was growing up, I'd make my own powwow outfits and that meant a lot to me," Piche says. "I took those designs and I applied them to my work today."
Piche's designs that have found their way into the hall closets of celebrities like Tom Jackson and Terri Clark, and appeal to both aboriginal and non-aboriginal customers. The designer says the message of her work is simply "to be proud of who you are."
It took Auger years to become proud of his aboriginal identity. Suffering physical and sexual abuse in his home community, he ran away at age 12 and ended up living on the streets in several Canadian cities. He slept under a cardboard blanket, ran drugs, used violence as a survival tool and had no concept of what it meant to be an aboriginal, he said.
"I was ashamed to be an Indian. I was told I was a drunk, I was on welfare, I was no good for nothing and I actually believed it."
When an overdose nearly killed him, Auger realized he needed to stop being a victim. His healing journey took more than a decade and has made his sense of identity even stronger.
"Nowhere is it written that there are limits to what we can achieve as aboriginals," he says. "It's the rebel in me. I grew up as a rebel, but now I do it in a respectful way."
Is sipping on a double-double in sunglasses and aboriginal armour going too far? Auger says no way. For him, it's about finding balance between his traditional roots and his modern way of life.
"I've learned to wear Nike on one foot, and a moccasin on the other."
Edmonton Journal
© The Leader-Post (Regina) 2006
Copyright © 2006 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.
Elizabeth Withey
CanWest News Service
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
See photos here: www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/news/arts_life/story.html?id=6d95bf13-1077-4ef3-9932-64b9836a7590&k=81850
CREDIT: CanWest photos; Graphic designer Linda Rea-Rosseker, Leader-Post
(Top) Gerald Auger wears the breastplate he created for about $20; (bottom left to right) Auger wears a leather coat by Alberta Cree designer Patricia Piche. The woman in the middle is wearing clothing by Pam Baker, while the others are wearing designs by Shannon Kilroy.
EDMONTON -- Heads turn when Gerald Auger wears his bead-and-leather breastplate at Tim Hortons.
"I have my people coming up and saying, 'I've never seen anyone wearing a breastplate in downtown Edmonton before,' " the Cree actor and filmmaker says. "Or my non-aboriginal brothers come up and say, 'My God, what is that?' "
Auger's bold style has caused some minor injuries, too.
"People walk into cars because they're looking at me and not paying attention to where they're going," he says.
First Nations people traditionally donned breastplates as armour. But Auger wears the vestment, which resembles a ribcage, over his everyday clothing to demonstrate his Cree pride.
"I use it to accessorize, to put a statement out there that it's who I am and what I'm about," he says. "I've always been one to march to my own beat."
Auger made the breastplate in four hours with the help of a how-to Web site and $20 worth of craft supplies. Now when he wears it to festivals and public speaking events, people offer to buy it for as much as $1,000. Some ask permission to take his picture because they have never seen "a live, walkin' talkin' Indian." Once, a group of Italians greeted him by raising their right palms and saying, "How."
Auger says he chuckled at their ignorance. "It was cute."
Dreamspeakers film festival director Helen Calahasen says Auger's confidence in dressing "the aboriginal look" makes him a role model for others.
"Gerald's not afraid of people who say, 'Look at that Indian,' " Calahasen says. "He says, 'Here I am, warts and all.' "
Auger also enjoys being a fashion "billboard" for contemporary aboriginal designers, whose works are seen with increasing frequency on runways across Canada. In April, Vancouver Fashion Week showcased aboriginal designs at their kick-off event, Cultural Reflections 2006. Auger says it helped raise awareness that First Nations designers create edgy, modern looks.
"A lot of people, when they hear 'aboriginal fashion,' think it's all buckskin, feathers and leather," he says. "It's very mainstream fashion as well. It just has that traditional inspiration from our symbolism, imagery of who we are as aboriginal people."
Patricia Piche, a designer based in Gibbons, Alta., just northeast of Edmonton, creates contemporary applique leather coats and bags using the beadworking skills her grandmother taught her as a girl.
"As I was growing up, I'd make my own powwow outfits and that meant a lot to me," Piche says. "I took those designs and I applied them to my work today."
Piche's designs that have found their way into the hall closets of celebrities like Tom Jackson and Terri Clark, and appeal to both aboriginal and non-aboriginal customers. The designer says the message of her work is simply "to be proud of who you are."
It took Auger years to become proud of his aboriginal identity. Suffering physical and sexual abuse in his home community, he ran away at age 12 and ended up living on the streets in several Canadian cities. He slept under a cardboard blanket, ran drugs, used violence as a survival tool and had no concept of what it meant to be an aboriginal, he said.
"I was ashamed to be an Indian. I was told I was a drunk, I was on welfare, I was no good for nothing and I actually believed it."
When an overdose nearly killed him, Auger realized he needed to stop being a victim. His healing journey took more than a decade and has made his sense of identity even stronger.
"Nowhere is it written that there are limits to what we can achieve as aboriginals," he says. "It's the rebel in me. I grew up as a rebel, but now I do it in a respectful way."
Is sipping on a double-double in sunglasses and aboriginal armour going too far? Auger says no way. For him, it's about finding balance between his traditional roots and his modern way of life.
"I've learned to wear Nike on one foot, and a moccasin on the other."
Edmonton Journal
© The Leader-Post (Regina) 2006
Copyright © 2006 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.