Indigenous fashion festival coming to Tk̓emlúps over weekend of Red Dress Day

On the weekend of Red Dress Day, a Cree-Métis woman is holding a two-day Indigenous fashion festival, with designers each creating a red dress to raise awareness about MMIWG2S+.

Kim Coltman has worked in the fashion industry since 1972, when she got her start as a model. She now uses the knowledge she’s gained to run Fashion Speaks International (FSI), a Tk̓emlúps (Kamloops)-based organization she started in 2015. 

FSI’s Revolutions Red Dress Fashion Festival is set to run this Saturday and Sunday — which is Red Dress Day — in the Northside Hangar at the Kamloops Airport.

Held in an airport hangar which fits up to 300 people, the show will feature nine designers, according to the event website, all of whom Coltman said were tasked to design a red dress for the show’s May 5 finale.

Some of the designers showcasing their collections at the Revolutions show include Shannon Kilroy, Sierra William, Elizabeth Spike, and Arthur Paul. The event will also feature performances by the Cultural Ballet and Dannicka Kequahtooway as well as vendor tables.  

Raising awareness through fashion 

Coltman’s own past keeps MMIWG2S+ at the forefront of her mind and drives her ambition in the fashion industry. Coltman recalls her own experience of being abducted, and how lucky she was to escape. 

“I don’t see myself as a survivor anymore. I now see myself as a thriver because I’m out there and I’m doing and I’m helping other people,” she said.

“So my goal became to build a coalition of fashion industry professionals that all wanted to use their voice for the same purpose.”

Coltman notes FSI was born after organizing a one-off fashion show in 2015, but the public response was so strong she knew that she had to continue doing more. 

“The primary focus was, and has remained, raising awareness about … MMIWG2S,” according to FSI’s website. 

Their website also notes that FSI works with “other grassroots organizations who work directly with the families of MMIWG2S,” as well as various community members impacted by the MMIWG2S+ crisis.

This weekend’s event is the latest of multiple fashion shows and photo shoots Coltman has organized to mark Red Dress Day.

While in Cannes for a previous show, Coltman said they had pictures of MMIWG2S+ lining the runway. She believes that the international shows are important to bring awareness to the ongoing MMIWG2S+ crisis in “Canada.” 

“For me, being able to do shows abroad where we can bring images of our missing and show them to the world while we’re there is super, super important,” she said.

“So in promoting (the designers) while we’re promoting or talking about missing and murdered indigenous women, girls and Two Spirit people, has allowed us to open up conversations that we normally would never have with people from all over the world.”

Coltman also incorporates Indigenous culture into each show she produces, with previous shows featuring an opening prayer and powwow dancers. At one show they were unable to smudge inside so everyone went outside and continued to pray and smudge together.

“People on the street were stopping and watching us and many of them held back and waited for us to finish so that they could ask us questions,” she said.

“We really do have more than just one topic that we want to discuss. And you know, that’s why I called my company Fashion Speaks — because it does and it can. And it can lead to healing and it can lead to the truth and it can lead to reconciliation and it can lead to the world.”

She noted how fashion can open doors for Indigenous people, and said the different aspects of resilience, artist’s talent, and community present in the fashion shows are all interconnected.

“We’re really trying to make those connections worldwide so that we can move forward, so that we can heal and we can help others to heal,” she said.

Coltman credits her grandmother as a role model in her perseverance and drive. 

Although at a young age Coltman thought her grandmother’s need to hide their Indigenous heritage was out of shame, it was instead to keep their family safe — after having three of her four children taken to residential “school” and later retrieving them all, they lived in a small cabin and were able to stay together.

“She really, really gave me a good solid foundation in terms of being able to follow through on commitments and to find a way to get it done, no matter what.”

Opportunities for Youth

Now in her 60s, Coltman has shifted her focus to teaching modelling and organizing fashion events. One of FSI’s mandates is to provide opportunities for Indigenous Youth who are interested in the fashion industry.

“I think one of the greatest joys that I’ve had is being able to teach Indigenous Youth … getting them interested and involved in something that’s bigger than they are,” Coltman said.

“Let’s spread this to all of the communities and give the Youth something to do, something to strive for, something to be a part of because when you’re a part of it, it’s so exciting and it’s so rewarding.”

Models who are walking for the first time will have their families come out in support, even if it’s to an international destination and it’s the same for designers who may even have their family members walk in the shows for them.

Over the years, Coltman has noticed a shift in some of her former students where their interests have expanded. She’s had former models become fashion designers, photographers, and hair and makeup artists.

“It’s just been amazing how they find a niche within the fashion industry that speaks to them once they have a foot in the door,” she said.

Having grown since the first show in 2015, FSI has produced shows internationally in Australia and France (Paris and Cannes). In Cannes, Coltman said the audience included director Martin Scorsese and cast members of his film Killers of the Flower Moon. 

As the FSI shows have grown over the years, Coltman has expanded her team to include two employees to help organize and run events and also relies on volunteers.

There have been struggles keeping things going, Coltman noted, with funding issues and COVID-19 challenges forcing her to close a school where she ran workshops. She is now in the process of looking for a new space as well as rebuilding her website.

With “Kamloops” being a hub of through traffic, Coltman sees it as a perfect place to operate out of since the opportunities are already available in the big cities and she is opening them up to a wider, more rural audience. 

When speaking on the availability of her courses to people on reserve and in isolated areas, she says she wants to provide the outreach and make the effort to reach all people.

“They’re just not getting the exposure that they need, they’re not getting the opportunities that they need and we want to bring that to them.”

For the upcoming show, the date is coming up quickly which is stressful for Coltman as she has high hopes for it.

“This is fashion, that’s how it goes, and no matter what happens, the show must go on,” she said.

“There’s always these little challenges and you just have to keep rising up and meeting them and learning from them.”