1 of 3 2 of 3 More than 40 years ago, Skil Da ’Yuwaans Dorothy Grant began doing something nobody else had done before: combining traditional Haida art with contemporary clothing. “My main frame of inspiration is working with Haida art. I’ve got absolute respect for the tradition,” Grant says.
“I’ve kept true to the rules of formline art and how it can work with the body. I’m very, very cognizant and proud of that, and that’s been my main focus: honouring the ancestors who developed the art form.” Born into the Raven Clan in Hydaburg, Alaska, Grant was raised in Haida Gwaii and learned from a young age to sew.
From there, she studied weaving with her grandmother to make baskets and regalia in the early 1980s; and then, in 1983, she began to combine classic Haida formline designs with couture—the first known contemporary Haida fashion. Now, all of Grant’s designs are together in one place. The fashion designer is the subject of a retrospective, Raven Comes Full Circle , at Haida Gwaii Museum.
Seeing decades of her work together in one place was a moving experience for the fashion designer. “I felt elated: ‘Wow, this is so beautiful to see it all in one space and on beautiful mannequins and so elegantly displayed,’” Grant recalls over a video call. “It felt like I had reached a destiny: that this work has almost now wings of its own.
I let it go to the public, and the public response has just been outstanding.” At the same time, Grant was worki.
