This year’s Indigenous Fashion Arts festival, held in Toronto this past weekend, aimed to spotlight contemporary Indigenous fashion in all forms. The four days of runway shows featured everything from streetwear to handmade couture. Backstage, meanwhile, Indigenous hair and makeup artists crafted unique looks to complement the clothes. Lead hair designer Israel Garcia led a team of Redken stylists to create striking styles, including his original dream catcher hair concept, one of the standout elements of the week.
Garcia, the lead hair artist for the festival since its inception in 2016, has created many original hair concepts over the years. This year Garcia wanted to up the ante with a unique design. “I needed to figure out [a hair look] that could work for all of the designers, which would elevate but not take away from their designs,” says Garcia. “I knew I had to have support from one of my good friends and fellow stylists, Deandra Wells. We sat for afternoons just talking about my ideas and thinking up new ways to create something different.”
Shortly before the festival kicked off, Garcia had the idea of incorporating into the hair dream catchers—a signature piece of imagery within Indigenous culture. For many different nations and tribes, the dream catcher serves as a symbol to protect people from bad dreams and evil spirits. Today, it’s often gifted to folks as a piece of good medicine. Garcia felt it was the perfect item to incorporate into the beauty looks, given the festival is all about strengthening community and championing culture. “I thought hard about things in our culture that hold meaning and how to weave that into the hair design,” says Garcia. He adds that he took great care in using the dream catchers: It continues to be a much-appropriated symbol, after all, and he wanted to use them with good intent. “We all smudged before we touched anyone’s hair,” says Garcia.
The artist’s cousin, Tabatha Dodge, helped Garcia source and create all of the dream catchers for the hair. “I knew I wanted it to look like an adornment,” says Garcia. “Something that could be put on, like a pair of beaded earrings or a hair tie.” Together, they chose dream catchers in a gold-and-silver web—one in a five-inch hoop and a smaller three-inch hoop.
Once Garcia had all of the completed dream catchers, Garcia and his team of stylists—including Wells and Nin Oaks—then worked on sewing them into the various models’ hair. “The hair was brought back into a low-based ponytail,” says Garcia. “The pony was braided about two inches then separated into two braids, feeding in pre-boxed braiding hair to get more length. Once you had enough length, you could incorporate the premade hoop by sewing it into the hair. We used gold or silver dread clasps to decorate the piece.”
The hairstyles were the talk of the festival, and Garcia says they’re one of his favorite looks he’s ever created. “We did some beautiful work,” says Garcia. “I’ve been showered with beautiful compliments that let me know the viewers saw what I was trying to convey. I wanted to bring something new and gorgeous that would complete a whole story to these amazing designers’ garments.”
The stylist adds that he feels inspired to create even more beautiful looks centered in Indigenous culture going forward. “I’ve been left with a new drive and motivation to continue with styling after this experience. There are still so many ideas I wasn’t able to put into this runway. I’d like to work with more Indigenous artists to elevate our craft and art.”
