B.C.-based Dorothy Grant forged a path for Indigenous fashion designers.
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Dorothy Grant: An Endless Thread
By Dorothy Grant, Nika Collison Taauu Yuuwans, Lucy Bell Sdahl Kawaas, Kwiaahwah Jones, India Rael Young | Figure 1 Publishing | $50
Dorothy Grant’s first book has been 17 years in the making.
The idea was seeded the first day of her fellowship at the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 2007, when the director took her aside and suggested she write about her life.
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“He said, ‘Dorothy, I really think that you should publish a book. And maybe consider using your time as a fellow here to write your story, because you have a unique story,’ Grant recalls. “Nobody had ever said that to me before. I thought, ‘Wow, OK.’ ”
Grant mulled the idea over — for nearly two decades — deciding exactly which direction to take the book.
“I went through a process of, ‘What does this look like?’ ” Grant says. “And, over the years, it just evolved.”
During conversations with her book publisher, Figure 1, the fashion designer settled on the “part lookbook, part memoir” that’s been released this month. But first, she had to track down the major designs from her four-decade-plus career as a designer in order to photograph them.
“I just started collecting as many pieces as I could to form a collection that would actually make up this exhibition that’s now in Haida Gwaii that we opened in July of this year,” Grant says. “And this 40-piece collection became the content of the book.”
In the pages of the hardcover collection, titled Dorothy Grant: An Endless Thread, the designer details her journey in fashion, from the first recommendation in the 1980s by Haida artist Bill Reid that she explore clothing featuring traditional art, to today.
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“He had told me, ‘Well, nobody is doing fashion. And somebody should.’ So basically, that was the seed that was planted way back then. And that’s, wow, 41 years ago,” Grant, speaking from Tsawwassen, recalled. “I was doing traditional regalia. I was sewing constantly. My hands were sewing and cutting already. So it was a natural progression, really.”
Grant went to design school to further her education and experience in garment construction and configuration. She also, she notes, always kept an eye on the broader industry to help guide her business growth.
“If you’re a fashion designer, any kind of designer, you have to pay attention to what’s happening out in the world. You can’t just do something old-fashioned. So, I paid attention,” Grant says. “I’ve taken a very professional approach to it all.”
In 1989, Grant launched her Feastwear collection, which featured modern silhouettes “hand-appliquéd with Northwest Coast formline.”
Grant’s career timeline, which is plotted out in the book, includes major milestones such as opening a boutique in Vancouver in 1994, showing her designs during New York Fashion Week in 2009, and receiving the Order of Canada “for her contributions to the fashion industry as a Haida artist, designer and mentor” in 2015.
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“That was for my contribution as a Canadian designer and what I’ve contributed to the fashion industry, not just necessarily Native arts,” Grant says of the honour.
Looking back at the 40-year history in fashion design, Grant points to the sheer number of garments as one element that surprised her most about running a boutique and building her brand.
“The amount of volume that one needs to make, as a fashion designer as opposed to a home-sewer,” Grant shares. “You’re fulfilling a market that, for me, I basically created. I branded myself in the ‘80s and the ‘90s and the demand was there. And I guess that was surprising. That I had to keep up.
“When I opened the store in 1994 I realized, ‘Oh my God, what have I done? I need to fill this store three times a year for every season.’ That was a kick-me-into action kind of thing. Way back then. But now it’s quite a different story.”
These days, Grant has slowed her production, preferring to mentor young Indigenous designers and entrepreneurs, as well as accepting projects on an individual basis.
“Fashion is about survival of the fittest and who is doing really good things. Has it shifted? Not really. There’s still a demand. I’m still busy as ever,” Grant says. “But I kind of control what I want to do now, as opposed to what I have to do.
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“I think after 41 years, I probably earned that.”
In support of the book release, Grant will be taking part in two upcoming events in Vancouver at the Bill Reid Gallery on Oct. 26, as well as a Vancouver Writers Festival event in conversation with Dana Claxton on Oct. 27.
When asked to point to a favourite piece featured in the book, Grant highlighted the Raven Creation Tunic, which was given back to her by a client who had owned and loved the piece for more than 30 years.
“I don’t know if it’s a favourite, but it’s a placeholder of time that I look as a beginning,” Grant says of the garment. “It brought a lot of attention to Haida art in a different way than people could perceive of it, of what it would be like for them to see themselves in something like that.”
Grant wears the Raven Creation Tunic in her book, photographed by Canadian photojournalist Farah Nosh, at Rosespit on Haida Gwaii looking out toward Alaska where she was born.
“It was very important for me to be photographed in that piece because it was the first piece … that I did in the late ‘80s and ‘90s,” Grant shares. “And I felt it important because it really was the beginning of my creation of my fashion journey.”
In both her book and in conversation, Grant shared her perspective on appreciation versus appropriation of Indigenous art and design.
“If you buy something from a fashion designer that’s Native and they have artwork on it, and you’re wearing it, you’re wearing it in a sense of pride. In a sense that you relate to that and it makes you feel good,” Grant says. “It’s just like art. You buy art because it makes you feel good. And fashion should do the same. And it’s really about appreciation and not appropriation.”
Lately, Grant’s schedule has also filled up with the millinery process workshops that she puts on in Indigenous communities throughout the province.
“It’s all about innovating on an old tradition. And moving it forward into now, into this generation. And it hits a real positive chord with people, whether you’re Native or not,” Grant says of the modern spin on the traditional spruce-root hats she teaches in her hat-making seminars.
While her schedule has shifted, the 69-year-old shows no real signs of slowing down.
“I can tell you that, since July 6, the opening of my exhibition, one would think that I have come full circle and that it stops. And that I could just retire. But what would I do?” Grant says. “I realize that creativity doesn’t stop just because you’ve reached a pinnacle or completed a circle.
“You’ve got to spiral up or you’re going to spiral down. And I’m spiralling up.”
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