From powwow arbour to NYC runway: Farrah Sugar among Saskatoon fashion festival designers

When Farrah Sugar started sewing regalia for her children to wear as powwow dancers at the Piapot First Nation, she never expected she would be seeing her designs on a New York City catwalk.

In the past few years, the Saskatchewan-based designer has taken her garments to shows as far away as Australia.

Now she's about to join the board of directors with World Indigenous Fashion Week in Seychelles.

Now or never

"It's always been a dream of mine to be a designer," said Sugar.

"I've decided that it's now or never to carry or move forward to reach my dream."

Sugar, the artist behind the Siwinikan Designs label, is among the designers at this weekend's Saskatoon Fashion and Design Festival.

Her Sunday night show will include garments from her spirit horse and red dress collections.

The latter consists of garments made in honour of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

Sugar will also be showing long skirts that have a similar design to ribbon skirts used in powwow.

"In our ceremonies we use long dresses, long skirts and usually we have ribbons on them but I didn't put any ribbons on these because the ribbons symbolize the individual," she said.

"For instance, if these are something that I would wear, I would take my colour, which is red, and I would use a red ribbon on all of them."

Inspiration from around the world

Sugar said she was inspired to pursue a career in fashion by Tania Waru, the founder of the Indigenous Runway Project in Australia.

When Sugar is not travelling with her designs, she is the education co-ordinator at the Piapot First Nation.

She was also responsible for the completion of a major infrastructure project to build a new powwow arbour in her community.

The arbour project is over but Sugar said she is still pressed for time between her job at Piapot and her ambitions in the fashion industry.

"Eventually I'm going to have to make a choice and it's something I've been thinking about for a while," said Sugar.

"It's either continue designing or continue working for my First Nation."

Tonight's SFDF runway show starts at 7 p.m. CST at the Delta Bessborough Hotel.

Fashion festival celebrates creativity

Saskatoon fashion photographer Erin Crooks will be capturing the designs as the models move down the runway.

She said the fashion industry in Saskatoon is growing.

"I think each year we see a growth in designers that are wanting to put their work out there and have somewhere to present it and this is a really great opportunity to have a lot of local people and view their designs, get exposure that way," said Crooks.

"People are very creative here."

Designers will also be selling clothing and jewellery at the SFDF marketplace at the Bessborough conference room, and fashion and design presentations will be held Sunday afternoon.