Native/American Fashion: Inspiration, Appropriation and Cultural Identity - Mobility and Cultural Identity

Summary: Native/American Fashion: Inspiration, Appropriation, and Cultural Identity explores fashion as a creative endeavor and an expression of cultural identity, the history of Native fashion, issues of problematic cultural appropriation in the field, and examples of creative collaborations and best practices between Native designers and fashion brands. In this segment, we hear from the third panelist to speak on the topic Mobility and Cultural Identity Through Fashion, Sherry Farrell Racette of University of Manitoba. Her talk is titled Ball Gowns, Moccasins, and Black Beaver Hats: York Factory and Red River as Sites of Fashion Innovation. Sherry Farrell Racette (Timiskaming First Nation) is an interdisciplinary scholar with an active arts practice. Recent curatorial and artistic projects include We Are Not Birds (2014) and From Here: Story Gatherings from the Qu’Appelle Valley (2015). Racette teaches at the University of Manitoba, but is currently in Toronto as the 2016–2017 Distinguished Visiting Indigenous Faculty Fellow at the Jackman Humanities Institute and Visiting Resident Scholar at Massey College.