Page 45 - Sharp Winter 2024

TRUE COLOURS
FOLLOWING HIS EPONYMOUS LABEL’S DEBUT, JUSTIN JACOB LOUIS EXPLAINS HOW HIS INDIGENOUS HERITAGE RUNS THROUGH THE COLLECTION’S
EVERY THREAD
By Cormac Newman
N EW YORK FASHION WEEK CARRIES CULTURAL CACHET in spades. A-list celebrities flock to the front rows to watch strings of supermodels wearing the works of ruthlessly chic designers. Naturally, to stand out from such a crowd is an almost-Sisyphean task. And yet, with his eponymous label’s debut, Indigenous designer
Justin Jacob Louis has pushed the boulder up the hill.
Louis’s September show opened with a traditional “grass dance” performed by Indigenous Enterprise, a dance troupe that
aims to strengthen cultural understanding of Indigenous identity through performance. It was a captivating sight, with passion pulsating through every step of the hypnotic routine, performers swaying and spinning with raw, refreshing abandon. It also set the tone for the designer’s unflinchingly authentic fall 2024 preview.
“They’re actually friends of mine,” Louis says of Indigenous Enterprise. “We have a pretty tight-knit art community. And, when I first committed to doing New York, they were some of the first people I called.”
Connecting with Indigenous designers and artists and re- cruiting Indigenous models for his shows is incredibly important to Louis. “Some of them are walking for the biggest brands in the world, but they’ll make it work for us because they want to help support and lift up their own people.”
This sense of community affords Louis’s shows a relaxed atmosphere. The designer talks of the warmth backstage, and describes fashion week as “a bunch of Native kids hanging out and having fun.”
But the launch of a new label remains a serious thing. “Obviously, it carries my name,” Louis says, “and a lot of it is inspired by my upbringing in my community and my culture, whereas SECTION 35 [a streetwear label Louis launched in 2016] speaks more universally. This one’s definitely much more personal. You’ll see imagery from my actual family, like my grandparents, in this collection.”
One piece, for example, bears the silhouette of Louis’s great- great-grandfather. Elsewhere, the Tanisi pattern, formed by Cree syllabic characters, is featured on, among other items, a mono- grammed knit sweater and an embossed tote. The symbols dance across the fabrics, enhancing designs with these key motifs from Louis’s’ Nehiyaw (Plains Cree) culture.
Varsity jackets, a particular favourite of the designer, are a standout of the collection. One is adorned with a horse, while another bears the words Made On Stolen Land. “These are made in San Francisco,” Louis explains, “so it’s in North America; it’s stolen land.” It’s a nod to the collection’s core concepts — those of authenticity, identity, and appropriation.
“There’s always confusion around Indigenous fashion,” says the designer, “and mainstream people worrying about whether they’re appropriating by wearing it. But we really create our work for people to buy it, right? Appropriation is if you're buying something done by someone who's not Native, whereas we’re actually making something that’s authentic for the market. I think the industry wants something that’s authentic, and I think the only people that can really do what we do, as Indigenous artists, are our own people.”
The use of fur, Louis argues, is also a staple in Indigenous communities, and to decry its use in fashion would be to disregard cultural context. “We aren’t mass killing animals, and farming animals for their fur,” he adds. “There’s a different, I guess, mindset of how we’re using those types of things.”
Instead, every material used in the collection is both organic and chosen for its heritage. “It has a quality that lasts,” says Louis of his collection. “I wanted to make pieces that have heirloom quality.”
Next autumn, the complete collection will launch, with a pledge to present luxury “reimagined through the Indigenous lens.” But even with this year’s smaller preview, the designer has still made an impact. “I think we did something really special,” Louis says, “and the most important thing was that we brought all our people with us. I hope to continue that with this work — elevating not just myself, but our community and our people.”
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WINTER 2024 • GUIDE 45
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PHOTO COURTESY OF JUSTIN JACOB LOUIS.