Indigenous Fashion Runway Event with host Jah'kota

A vibrant evening featuring runway collections from Indigenous designers in the Indigenous Fashion Runway program

Dates & Location

Image from the Indigenous Haute Couture Open Studio 2025, photo by Rita Taylor.

Artistic Credits

Valerie St. Pierre Smith Faculty

Machine Dazzle Faculty

Joleen Mitton Faculty

Caroline Phelps Faculty

Sonny-Ray Day Rider Faculty

Cindy Kelley Sunshine Designer

Sabrina Lombardo Designer

Nathan Jenniss Designer

Craig Commanda Designer

Jennifer Younger Designer

Jah'kota Host

Audience Advice Flashing lights and haze during show. Please no flash photography.

We are pleased to host our inaugural Indigenous Runway featuring the participants of the Indigenous Fashion Runway Residency!

In 2021, Indigenous Arts started the Indigenous Haute Couture program that focused on the creation phase of designing that was focused experimentation and mentorship. After many years of success, we wanted to explore the next phase of production.

The Indigenous Fashion Runway is a pilot program that features Indigenous designers from Turtle Island! For three weeks, the group learned how to work with professional designers in lighting, projection, sound, props, hair and make-up, wardrobe, and carpentry to learn how these elements come together to support their vision of how they want their work highlighted in the production of the runway. The designers were supported by expert faculty in a professional environment. The program offers this exciting opportunity to showcase their work to the community!

Show Run

Opening and Blessing

Jah'kota Welcome and Performance

Collection 1 - Cindy Kelley Sunshine

Jah'kota Performance featuring special collection of adornments by Jennifer Younger

Collection 2 - Sabrina Lombardo

Jah'kota Performance featuring special collection of adornments by Jennifer Younger

Craig Commanda Performance

Collection 3 - Nathan Jenniss and Craig Commanda

Artist Statements

Cindy Kelley Sunshine - Cynshine Sewing Studio | Label: CYN

A Dakota-Irish designer based in Saskatchewan, Cindy Kelley Sunshine creates work that honours identity and personal sovereignty. From Standing Buffalo Dakota Nation, she approaches fashion as a space where inclusivity and narrative intertwine—where each garment becomes a vessel for self-expression.

Cindy’s artistic practice is defined by what she calls “jumble”—playful and cheeky. She stitches together unexpected materials and textures, forming geometric motifs that often transform into entirely new textiles. Rather than relying on traditional ideas of sustainability, she celebrates creating beauty from what is at hand. This ethos is inspired by childhood memories of dresses made from curtains and found fabrics, moments that shaped her understanding of adaptability and creative possibility.

Her bespoke designs reflect cultural resourcefulness and personal style. Through joyful, expressive colours and bold silhouettes, her garments evoke a sense of inner empowerment, encouraging wearers to reconnect with their own confidence and individuality.

Cindy’s work is a living dialogue between tradition and innovation.

Sabrina Lombardo - Native Nation Designs

Native Nation Designs - a bold and innovative brand that is Indigenous-designed and sewn. We believe that fashion should be an expression of your unique self, and our one-of-a-kind looks make you feel confident and ready to take on whatever comes your way. Our design aesthetic features a mix of lightweight satin textiles and bold luxurious colors, with an emphasis on unique silhouettes and Indigenous couture techniques.

Our designs are not just garments, but wearable art that tell a story. We are committed to preserving Indigenous culture and traditions while incorporating modern elements. Through our designs, we strive to create a space where everyone can feel seen and celebrated. Immerse yourself in an ethereal realm of fashion with Native Nation Designs.

Nathan Jenniss

In a world so indifferent, having the curse of creativity forces you to make your own.

Qey, I'm Nathan Jenniss native fashion designer based in Montréal from the nation Wolastoqiyik Wahsipekuk primarily based In Cacouna. I wasn't born close to my nation or close to any nation. I was born in the suburbs and the furthest away from my culture. When I would tell that I was native I was often met with bigotry and lack of understanding from others but sometimes myself. I didn't grow up close to other native. I would often hide and shame this part of me. With time and experience like these I'm learning more and more this part of me and it is slowly affecting my creations.

As a young Native fashion designer the natural route is rebellion. The discontent of what the fashion world has become. The corporatization of the world of art. The green washing of consumerism. The disconnect of the earth and disconnect of each other. I'm not alone having a problem with these issues. They don't define me but they fuel my desire to make a better place for me, for others and for the next.

All you need was always around you, now you need to make it part of you. Like armor that you're building with scraps of metal that are laying around. Layering them on yourself and making it stick with duct tape and sticking flowers and grass where there's holes. It might look idiotic, stupid, silly, foolish, weird and it will fill your heart with doubt but by learning to be affectionate with yourself, with time the metal will be beautifully chiseled. The armor will be held with a leather strap and pride. The flowers will become a bouquet that will continue to grow on you without the need of soil.

I'm fairly young but there's a lot to be proud of. I have been in the local journal. I have been in the ELLE Quebec summer 2025 which is a fashion magazine in Quebec. My mom bought 7 copies and put them all around the house. I was part of a project called Tressages which was a collaboration with Jean Claude Poitras, famous Canadian designer and eleven Native artists from different nations to modify the previous creation of Jean Claude Poitras. With this project we participated in a runway with College Lasalle. We also had a show in Le Grand Theatre de Quebec and it was picked up by some television production and they made four episodes of half an hour of the creation process and the last episode is the show in Quebec and now I'm in charge of transportation and the exhibition of the collection in different nations throughout Quebec. The thing I like the most with experience like these is creation but also to connect with like minded people. That's really when I feel in my element and I feel like I'm in the right place. That's where I found Craig Commanda, a fantastic Anishinaabe multidisciplinary artist. He's now helping with my collection. And also Julie Grenier, a wonderful Inuit. We worked on a corset made of actual whalebone and its experience like the sharing of knowledge, learning new ways to work and seeing different points of view of what art is. It keeps me hopeful a better place for me, for others and for the next.

Craig Commanda

My artistic approach is focused on creating contemporary work with cutting edge techniques and technologies alongside learning Anishinaabeg cultural practices, arts, and techniques. These include beadwork, hide tanning, basketry, bronze, weaving, fashion design, CNC, ceramics, 3D printing, bronze sculpture, and fashion design.

I like to use different mediums to explore my creative voice in the arts. I incorporate natural materials into my work to enhance the sense of groundedness with each piece. I am passionate about learning endangered art forms as a way of preserving and revitalizing them for future generations, as both an arts practitioner and educator. Doing this brings me closer to my culture through the arts and honors my upbringing and relationship to those materials. I use this as a way to research and relate to pieces that were left behind by my ancestors.

Art is my way to communicate with the world, through the emotion of color, shape and material. I am often inspired by the way nature expresses itself, and I emulate that in my works. I work by intuition, and channel through my hands and let that guide my process as I create.

Jennifer Younger - Jennifer Younger Designs

I am an award-winning Tlingit artist from Yakutat, Alaska, now working in Sitka, where I create contemporary metalwork and jewelry grounded in traditional formline design. Over time, I have developed a distinctive carving style that reflects both cultural continuity and personal innovation.

My work has earned recognition, including Jeweler of the Year from The Indigenous Fashion Collective, affirming my commitment to sharing the strength, beauty of Tlingit art with wider audiences. Each piece I create is a way to carry forward stories, relationships to place, and the artistry that has shaped my people for generations.