Archive
Imbéh, and embroidery after Margaret Moses.
A collection shown with Indigenous Fashion Arts. Digital work that has to look like a grandmother’s hand.
Imbéh, shown in Time Weavers at Indigenous Fashion Arts: contemporary men’s and women’s silhouettes, Dene from the Northwest Territories. Computer-generated embroidery made to read as the traditional beadwork of his late grandmother, Margaret Moses — then mixed with moosehide, northern fur, hand beadwork, and a couture finish. Mahsi.
The same tension runs through Bush Spirit Couture and the painted formline pieces: high fashion as discipline. Embellishment, a fit that holds, cloth that is worth the hours. Not a logo on a hoodie. A line that can stand next to Givenchy in the mind of an eleven-year-old looking at Harper’s Bazaar, and still belong on the Mackenzie.
Those looks live in Archive. They are not the cart. They are the argument for the cart.
Collection note after Indigenous Fashion Arts / Imbéh. Portrait of Margaret Moses from the family working file.
Margaret Moses