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An Indian the designer says it's time for her Project Runway Canada was a “career highlight” and an opportunity to showcase part of your culture.
Talrumik, city Innowife and Gwich The designer from Tuktoyaktuk, NWT, now living in Vancouver, lost a double elimination in the team competition in the third episode, which aired last Friday.
“It’s so much more than just me as a designer,” she said.
“This will have an impact on my nation, Inuvialuit and Squat, my community and beyond.”
The rebooted Canadian adaptation of the popular fashion competition premiered in mid-November on Crave. Designers compete for $100,000 and a feature in El Canada magazine.
The judges included Canadian supermodel Coco Rocha, fashion journalist Jeanne Becker and fashion designer Spencer Badu.
Outside of shows, she continues to create Inuvialuit-inspired designs under her label Taalrumiq. Sewing, she says, is simply a way of life in her culture, a necessity for survival in arctic weather and a skill passed down from generation to generation.
She learned to sew as a child, surrounded by her mother's work and her cousins in her late grandmother's sewing shop after her death.
“My designs always have cultural sensitivity and influence because that’s my way of life,” she said.
This influence was evident in her debut look in the first episode, where the designers were tasked with creating a denim look entirely out of old jeans.
Her look included red details inspired by the plumage of a partridge and a hood inspired by those worn by Inuvialuit elders.
“I learned how to make this hood by studying my greatAnanaaq's [great-grandmother's] clothes,” Talromi said.
“When I was a little girl in Tuktoyaktuk, I saw these clothes on all our elders.”
Taalrumik is not the only Indigenous designer chosen to compete this season. Anishinaabe designer Little Feather Migwans from M'chigeeng First Nation and Wiikwemikong Unceded Territory on Manitoulin Island is also on display.
“I [used to] I watch these shows and think, “Where are we?” And not as a caricature, but, you know, as our real real selves,” she said.
“I think it’s so wonderful that we’re here in these modern spaces doing things and just living the dream.”
Taalrumik said she knew Migwans before filming.
“When we got there, the first day of meeting all the designers, we were jumping up and down and hugging,” Taalrumik said.
“It's very nice to have someone around who just knowsWith, without your explanation.”
Since returning from the show, Taalrumik is finishing her MFA at Emily Carr University of Art and Design, where her research is focused on ancient Inuvialuit fashion.
Though her flight continues Project Runway Canada ended, she said she was grateful for the journey and would be rooting for the Migvans.
