Darkness settles inside the Darwin convention centre. Anticipation blankets the crowd as Cyan Lee, a Traditional Owner, welcomes them to Larrakia country. From that moment, it is clear audiences will be confronted with their own reckoning at Country to Couture’s sold-out shows; across two 75-minute shows and 20 collections, designers delivered a poignant display of truth-telling.
In recent years, fashion has become an annual central point at Darwin’s Aboriginal arts festival with runway shows, workshops and mentorship programs culminating in the presentation of Australia’s national Indigenous fashion awards, which took place on 7 August. Michelle Maynard, a manager at Indigenous Fashion Projects who coordinates the festival’s fashion programming, saw a “collective consciousness” between designers as they emerged late last year after the failed voice referendum.
