Passion for Indigenous fashion

By incorporating ancient Indigenous methods of art and design into her custom creations and runway looks, designer Amy McPherson is on a mission to preserve her Métis culture through fashion.

Clothing from McPherson’s label Fashion Ikwe Designs feature caribou tufting, porcupine quillwork and intricate beading in contemporary silhouettes and styles.

McPherson has been consistently busy since she graduated from the fashion design and apparel production course at MC College in 2017.

Her desire to showcase traditional Indigenous art forms while educating others has always been at the heart of her practice.

In 2022, the designer was accepted to the inaugural month-long haute-couture residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.

During her time there she created a jacket and skirt from a repurposed Eaton’s mink fur coat and remnants of a Hudson’s Bay Co. blanket. She wove in a part of her own history by including her family’s documents in the piece.

“This was the perfect opportunity for me to not only showcase my culture as a Red River Métis designer, but also educate the audience about some of the things we went through. And one of those things is the scrip system that was forced upon my ancestors.

“When the Europeans came, they forced them off their land. They told them ‘we’re taking this from you, and this is a piece of paper saying you are going to get money for this land.’ But it was made by design to fail our people … that money never arrived,” she says.

“So I printed and enlarged a copy of one of the scrip documents and placed it at the back of the jacket portion of the outfit.”

The outfit, as well as McPherson’s other work, can be viewed on her Instagram account Fashion Ikwe.

Her work at the Banff residency inspired her to create a new collection of eight looks, based around the skirt and jacket, which she showed last year during Vancouver Indigenous Fashion Week.

“It feels really felt good to be able to teach something through my art,” she says. “I don’t think that collection is done being seen yet. I would really like to showcase it on an international runway; that’s kind of what I’m aspiring to get to.”

Alongside making commissioned pieces, such as elaborately beaded velvet vests, jewelry and other accessories, McPherson is busy a working on a moss bag for her family.

Traditionally used by Indigenous mothers to swaddle and carry their babies, a moss bag is meant to recreate the safety and warmth of the womb. Crafted from natural materials, bags are often decorated with intricate and elaborate beadwork, embroidery and quillwork designs.

Made on black velvet, McPherson’s moss bag will feature her own cotton fabric, with laces made from natural hide. The bag will become an heirloom piece for her family.

“I’ve already put in more than 140 hours of beadwork on the piece, and it has some antique beads in it as well as genuine gemstones which are my family’s birthstones. Hopefully the moss bag will be passed down, and be a way for my future generations to tell my story.”

The artist and designer also creates costumes for the stage, working on productions such as RMTC’s The Secret to Good Tea and Blue Beads, and Blueberries at MTYP.

And this year, she launched her own 100 per cent cotton fabric collection, Prairie Petals, available through wholesale manufacturers Siltext.

“The fabric features the imagery of my porcupine quillwork designs which have been digitized onto fabric. There are 12 different colours available, and I am currently working on two more designs to be launched in 2026,” she says.

While McPherson’s custom commissions are mostly from Indigenous clientele, she is happy to take orders from anyone who would like to work with her. Her dream job would be to dress a movie star for a red-carpet event.

“I just love Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon) and all the characters she has played,” she reveals. “Canadian actress Paulina Alexis (Reservation Dogs) would be another! I really can do almost anything, and I love a challenge,” she says.

av.kitching@freepress.mb.ca