ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER READERS, PLEASE BE AWARE THAT THIS STORY CONTAINS THE NAME OF A PERSON WHO IS DECEASED.
To the naked eye it might have seemed that First Nations fashion just miraculously appeared one day on the Australian fashion scene, bringing fashionistas to tears with spellbinding collections and securing magazine covers faster than Paul McCann’s couture hits the red carpet.
Surprisingly, this is no fairytale but a cultural renaissance: 60,000 years of sustainable design revived by the original descendants. Now, a new generation of artisans are screen-printing, weaving and pattern-making their way into fashion history.
One such creative is Denni Francisco, founder of esteemed label Ngali, who became the first Indigenous designer to secure a standalone show at Australian Fashion Week (AFW). Francisco mesmerised this year’s audiences with her collection Murriyang, which means “skyworld” in the Wiradjuri language.
With more than 25 years of fashion experience, Francisco has twice been named Designer of the Year at the National Indigenous Fashion Awards (NIFA). She says her next goal is to present her designs internationally, “using fashion
