After decades of underrepresentation and appropriation, First Nations fashion designers and creatives finally hit the runway
Grace Lillian Lee is used to standing ovations; Australian Fashion week is not. On Wednesday 2 June, the designer and creative director of First Nations Fashion and Design, along with her CEO and fellow designer Teagan Cowlishaw, made history with the first runway show featuring only First Nations talent: on the catwalk, making the clothes, and behind the scenes.
First Nations Fashion and Design is a not-for-profit Indigenous corporation aimed at supporting the growth of the Indigenous fashion industry, with self-determination at the heart of their mission. Lee, who has ties to Torres Strait which she explores through her work, and Cowlishaw, who has kinship with Nyikina people and paternal connections with Bardi and Nyul Nyul people, founded the organisation in 2020. They have been running FNFD on a voluntary basis, close to full time, ever since, and both say the project has been years in the making.
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