Sovereignty Style: Introducing a New Blog Series by Feather Miigwans
Sovereignty Style is a series highlighting Indigenous artists and designers using fashion to express themselves, their cultures, and their stories on their own terms. Curated by transdiciplinary artist and curator Feather Miigwans, the posts in this series celebrate the creativity and expansiveness of Indigenous Fashion.
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Aanii! My name is Feather Miigwans and I am a member of the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians. At 18 I moved to NYC to study fashion at Parsons University and quickly became obsessed with the textiles themselves. That led me to transfer to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where I focused on fibre and material studies. I went on to complete my BFA in Studio and Digital Arts from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where I also hold a certificate in Indigenous Art History.
I am a transdisciplinary artist, writer, and curator working at the intersections of art, culture, and technology. Textiles and fashion have always been a way for me to express myself to the outside world and have also served as a lens for how I see the world around me.
In 2024, while having dinner among friends – artists, curators, designers, and collectors of Indigenous Fashion – the idea for a Global Indigenous Fashion and Textile Blog was birthed. The concept and desire behind this dialogue is to represent the intricate tapestry that makes up the world of Indigenous Fashion. Through a series of posts, this blog will document, preserve, and promote Indigenous textile traditions, designs, and stories, ensuring their transmission to future generations. Simultaneously, it will provide accessible and engaging educational content about Indigenous fashion and textiles, fostering a deeper understanding of their cultural significance while celebrating and supporting Indigenous fashion designers, artisans, and artists.
Every thread in Indigenous fashion is crucial and lends its own meaning and aesthetic. From the curators, the designers and the models, to the teams behind the scenes, we welcome you to get to know us through a series of interviews and observations curated by me, your friendly fashion freelancer Feather.
I hope that this blog welcomes you to learn more about Indigenous ways of textile making and how fashion and adornment is integral to Indigenous culture. New posts will be published every month, so be sure to check this space often!
The Textile Museum of Canada and I would like to thank the Canada Council for the Arts for generously supporting this project.