CHECKING IN WITH LESLEY HAMPTON
Anishinaabe artist and fashion designer
Describe Toronto’s fashion scene for our readers. What I love about the Toronto fashion scene is there are different fashion weeks for each thing that might interest you, such as Indigenous Fashion Arts for people wanting to connect with indigenous fashion and educate themselves on how they can wear it appropriately. But then there’s also African Fashion Week Toronto, celebrating great BIPOC designers and individuals. Or Fashion Art Toronto, which celebrates the alternative fashion scene where people can be more creative or about a wearable art piece or trending design work.
What do you think of Torontonians’ style?
When there is an event happening, Toronto’s people are great at showing up and showing off. On a daily basis, it depends on the weather. I applaud Toronto for putting comfort first when it comes to staying warm. But there are incredible brands, like Manitobah Mukluks and Canada Goose, that promote being warm while still being fashionable.
How can visitors connect with Toronto’s Indigenous past and present?
Checking out Native Canadian Centre of Toronto offers a great way to start because there’s so much education around Indigenous people available at no cost. If you’re coming in June, Indigenous Fashion Arts is a great festival that happens biannually. Also, the imaginenative Film + Media Arts Festival hosts a weeklong showing of Indigenous-made films.
You focus on slow fashion. How does Toronto embrace sustainability?
Specifically for fashion design, quite a number of small businesses like mine are dedicated to locally produced garments, as well as initiatives such as Inland, which supports Canadian designers who manufacture locally — Canadianmade, Canadian-designed. We’re seeing an uptick in local manufacturing facilities connecting with a lot of local designers. Definitely a transition is happening for buyers wanting locally made work as well as designers themselves trying to create locally.
What’s one thing people don’t know about Toronto but should?
How much Indigenous culture is woven throughout the city. Even “Toronto” itself comes from a Mohawk word Tkaronto [which means “the place in the water where the trees are standing”]. I think just learning how much Indigenous people are woven within the Canadian landscape is something visitors can appreciate.