New Brunswick designer selected for first-ever national Indigenous Fashion week
Shane Fowler | CBC News | Posted: May 29, 2018 11:53 PM | Last Updated: May 29, 2018
Ingrid Brooks will represent Atlantic Canada at national event with handmade clothing designs
A New Brunswick fashion designer has been selected to showcase her clothing creations during an upcoming national event.
Ingrid Brooks of Indian Island First Nation is travelling to Toronto this week for the first ever Indigenous Fashion Week.
"Oh my god, it's been a little bit overwhelming," said Brooks. "But I'm doing it. I'm pulling it off."
Brooks, along with two New Brunswick models, start their road trip to the runways on Tuesday.
Handmade outfits
Brooks will showcase seven custom outfits, all of which she says were created in the tradition of New Brunswick First Nations people.
Each dress, cloak and headpiece are handmade by Brooks using traditional and contemporary techniques taught to her by family members.
She says she expects the experience to be professionally valuable, but also deeply personal.
"I look forward to meeting other designers and seeing how they do things out there," said Brooks. "And bringing my work out and sharing my culture and the Mi'kmaq designs and our stories behind each piece."
From forestry to fashion
For the last two decades Brooks has been creating custom clothing in her home, a far cry from her former career in the woods as a professional chainsaw operator.
"I worked in forestry for a few years," said Brooks. "And I retired from that and I went into the fashion business."
Brooks builds each piece in her home on the Indian Island First Nation. Her cutting tables, sewing machines, and racks of clothing feature prominently in her living room and kitchen.
"Each outfit takes me about a good week," said Brooks. "Forty hours to put together one outfit."
After taking a bit of a break from fashion, the decision to create clothing again was almost immediately rewarded.
"I've been working, and I just decided to jump back into the fashion world, and right away I was invited to Toronto, so I think I know where I have to be in life."