‘We’re going to show the world through our art’ Ally’s Ribbons assembles group of Indigenous designers, models for iconic Milan Fashion Week By: Gabrielle Piché Posted: 5:36 PM CDT Monday, Aug. 18, 2025

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This article was published 18/08/2025 (414 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Alyssia Sutherland was her own first client.

Now, she’s taking a delegation of Indigenous designers and models — including some from northern Manitoba First Nations — to Milan Fashion Week (Sept. 23-29) in Italy.

“One individual going to Milan, we can’t make a wave or a splash,” Sutherland said. “My goal is to get as much people as we can to these opportunities.”

Ally’s Ribbons, her business, is no stranger to the spotlight. Since launching in 2020, Sutherland’s ribbon skirts have been shown at fashion weeks in New York and Paris, and at the Cannes Indigenous Arts and Fashion Festival.

Milan is the widest net Sutherland has cast yet: nine designers and 26 models are in tow, part of a group of roughly 100 heading to Italy with Ally’s Ribbons.

Some come from Sutherland’s home community of Peguis First Nation. Others come from Sagkeeng, Opaskwayak and Berens River in Manitoba, and “all over Turtle Island,” including the United States.

“It’s really important for us to let people know that we’re here, we’ve always been here and we’ll continue to be here,” said Sutherland, 29. “We’re going to show the world through our art.”

She grew up watching her grandmother sew dresses. In 2018, her mother-in-law taught her to work a sewing machine.

Sutherland made her own ribbon skirt, a traditional Indigenous garment with rows of colourful ribbons.

“I started going to ceremony and there was a lot of people recognizing my ribbon work,” Sutherland recalled.

They asked her to make them skirts. Soon, through word of mouth, Sutherland’s wares were coveted throughout the province.

She created an Instagram page for her work in January 2020. It became a tool for receiving orders around Canada and beyond.

Sutherland credits two Indigenous celebrities for growing her customer base. Fawn Wood, an Alberta musician, bought a skirt from Sutherland in 2021 and showed it off to fans via social media.

A year later, actress Crystle Lightning tapped Sutherland to create an Indigenous poodle ribbon skirt. The handmade skirt was used in performances of Bear Grease, an Indigenous reimagining of the long-running musical Grease.

Each Ally’s Ribbons creation is unique. It’s helped increase appeal, Sutherland relayed.

“I make ribbon to make a statement,” she said. “I don’t like replicating stuff.”

She contacted a Canadian Indigenous production house about joining it for the Cannes Indigenous Arts and Fashion Festival in 2023. The answer came back yes — bring yourself, your designer brother and 11 looks.

“We didn’t know what we were doing,” Sutherland said.

Her brother, Terrance Thomas, creates the men’s pieces under Ally’s Ribbons’ umbrella. The duo met their models and learned the ropes when they arrived at the event in France.

“To be in that environment with other designers and models, just proud to be there, was such an eye-opening thing,” Sutherland shared.

“The Milan show is kind of my test of, ‘Can I put on a good show? I am not making any money from this production.”– Alyssia Sutherland

Trips to New York and Paris fashion weeks followed in 2023 and 2024. Sutherland started bringing her own models.

She pitched a bigger Indigenous fashion showcase — one with several designers overseen by Ally’s Ribbons — to the production company she works with, HiTechModa.

The result will unfurl Sept. 28 in Italy.

“The Milan show is kind of my test of, ‘Can I put on a good show?’” Sutherland said. “I am not making any money from this production.”

Designers joining the roughly one-hour event include Thomas, April Slater from Misipawistik Cree Nation (Grand Rapids) and Dreyden Flett Roulette from Opaskwayak Cree Nation.

Ally’s Ribbons models have been preparing since May. Ocean Bruyere, the company’s head model, is coaching the group.

“We really focus on mental health and supporting our models because there’s a lot of barriers we have to get through, especially as being Indigenous people,” said Bruyere, 28.

“We’re stepping into a colonial environment that is used to seeing one look and one look only.”

The models represent different sects within Indigenous culture, including Afro-Indigenous.

“There’s no set standard for age, size or appearance,” said Bruyere, who’s from Sagkeeng First Nation. “Me and Ally really want to focus on showing a variety of people.”

Meditation, cultural practices and team bonding activities are interwoven into the runway preparation, Bruyere said: “We have to learn how to be OK with our skin colour, the way our bodies are shaped, the way our eyes are shaped.”

“We really focus on mental health and supporting our models because there’s a lot of barriers we have to get through, especially as being Indigenous people. We’re stepping into a colonial environment that is used to seeing one look and one look only.”– Ally’s Ribbons’ head model Ocean Bruyere

Lucy Kemp, who’s walking the Milan runway with Ally’s Ribbons, called the troupe a “really healthy, holistic group of people.”

She’s co-organizing a fundraiser to cover Milan trip expenses. Ally’s Ribbons models will walk in a fashion show Sept. 5 to raise money. Fashion week trips are pricey, Sutherland explained.

“Top clothing houses are there represented,” Indigenous Chamber of Commerce president Renee Greyeyes said of Milan Fashion Week. “For us to have that recognition means that our clothing, our cultural attire, is being accepted on a world stage.”

Gucci, Versace and Fendi regularly take spots at the prestigious event.

Greyeyes has noticed ribbon skirts increasingly being worn in Manitoba spaces. Provincial government event invites now offer a dress code of business and cultural attire, a change made since Wab Kinew became premier, Greyeyes said.

“We’re not embarrassed to wear (ribbon skirts) anymore,” she added. “It’s quite different from 30 years ago.”

She called Sutherland a “really strong example within the Indigenous business community.”

Sutherland aims to start a modelling agency within the next year, building on work Ally’s Ribbons is currently doing. First, though, Sutherland is focused on getting her crew to Milan.

Ally’s Ribbons is selling $28 tickets to its September show, happening at Swish Studios at 290 McDermot Ave., on Eventbrite online. Organizers have dubbed the evening event “Manitoba to Milan” and will host a pop-up market. There will be tickets at the door.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com