Responsibility to Country: First Nation's Fashion Leadership

1:00pm, Tuesday May 12

AFC Theatre, MCA

FROM $50

AFC Talks, presented by Afterpay

In collaboration with Indigenous Fashion Projects, this panel brings together First Nations designers and industry leaders to explore how responsibility to Country, grounded in care, reciprocity, and cultural authority, can reshape the future of fashion. At a time when sustainability dominates industry discourse, the conversation shifts the lens from trend to responsibility, positioning First Nations knowledge systems as foundational to ethical and sustainable practice.

Through lived experience and industry insight, the panel will examine how cultural responsibility translates into design, production, and business, and what it takes to build the systems that support First Nations-led practice. It invites the audience to consider their own role within this ecosystem, and what meaningful change looks like when First Nations leadership is not included, but followed.

Moderator: Patty Huntington, Women's Wear Daily

Panellists:
Michelle Maynard, Manager, Indigenous Fashion Projects
Cissy Gore-Birch, Designer, LULUJARU

Image: Model Jadene Croft, Wearing garments by Cleonie Quayle, National Indigenous Fashion Awards 2025, Wearable Art Award Winner, Supported by Eastland, National Indigenous Fashion Awards, 2025, Photo by Marley Morgan