North Shore locals needing a wardrobe refresh can find a wide range of new looks while enjoying a festival-type atmosphere at an upcoming event showcasing vintage threads alongside Indigenous fashion and talents.
Capilano University instructor Doreen Manuel is launching the first Indigenous fashion pop-up market later this month at the North Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»campus. The market will feature more than 20 vendors from the university’s alongside representatives from Vancouver-area vintage stores and film industry costumers.
“I know there’s a lot of vintage entrepreneurs in town, and I just thought it would be a great opportunity to pull people together, pull community together and have fun,” said Manuel, director of the Bosa Centre for film, animation and inclusive community projects at Capilano University and market organizer.
The pop-up market will have products ranging from Indigenous crafted jewelry and siracha sauce to racks of second-hand clothes from Vancouver-based store Mintage Vintage and pop-up entrepreneurs selling their wardrobes. There will also be a group of Indigenous students selling soaps, where they will donate all the funds to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls initiatives, Manuel said.
On top of unique finds, there will be Indigenous family-owned food truck Big City Bannock and Dene/Cree DJ Kookum spinning beats on campus.
Manuel wanted to focus on vintage as that market has always interested her, but she would also like to spread awareness of the high waste in the fashion industry and to support local during a trade war.
“With all these big stores shutting down – we lost Nordstroms, we’re losing the Bay – there’s less opportunity to find the sort of things you might be looking for,” Manuel said. “It is an opportune time to do something like this, because people are more interested in local than they have been in the past, and more concerned about where they’re going to find things. So having something like this just pulls all that together.”
The Indigenous Digital Accelerator program helps give Indigenous entrepreneurs the skills they need to thrive, working with mentors to develop a business plan, website support, and advice on how to move forward after the program is done.
Sade Makerra Auger is a past participant of the program and one of the vendors in the upcoming market, selling custom-made jewelry from her business, .
Auger crafts necklaces and bracelets intertwined with crystals like amethyst or rose quartz, along with making earrings.
She began her jewelry business in 2009, taking inspiration from her kookum’s (grandmother) crafty talents.
“I always watched her making jewelry and making things growing up, so when she passed away, I just really missed that,” she said. “Those are some of my best memories.”
Auger is a Cree First Nation artist from Big Stone Cree Nation of Northern Alberta. She moved between Alberta and British Columbia for a few years before making West Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»her home, where she makes all her jewelry.
She takes huge inspiration from her grandmother, who practiced healing and spoke up for Indigenous Peoples rights to the government.
“Her Indian name was women who stand strong, and I take a lot of inspiration from that with my jewelry,” Auger said. “My jewelry business provides well for me. When I do markets … I’m just doing what I’m supposed to be doing, helping others, helping our communities, living our traditions through crafts and through my own ways.”
The free Indigenous fashion pop-up event will take place at the Nat and Flora Bosa Centre for Film & Animation on the main CapU campus in North Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»Saturday, April 19 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Abby Luciano is the Indigenous and civic affairs reporter for the North Shore News. This reporting beat is made possible by the .
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