'These guys are really into it': Led by Dene fashion designer, Dehcho men sew their own vests
CBC
Clad in a crisp white dress shirt, Wilbert Antoine, 77, puts the finishing touches on a vest he made.
"It's exhilarating," said Antoine, beaming with pride about his first sewing project.
His thoughts linger on his mother, a master seamstress who made her children moccasins and mitts before they left to residential school.
"It all got taken away," said Antoine. "I'm very, very humbled and grateful to be able to do the things that my mom had made for me."
Antoine is a member of Łı́ı́dlı̨ı̨ Kų́ę́ First Nation in Fort Simpson, N.W.T. He's taking part in a sewing workshop for men — a first for the community.
Going into the workshop, he brought a vest his mother made for him 60 years ago for inspiration: a cherished white garment with dozens of pink flowers hand-embroidered down each side.
Like his mother's sewing, the vest he's working on himself — machine-embroidered with blue flowers — will be one of a kind.
"I'm really excited about it," he said.
The First Nation put on the workshop in recent weeks to give men a space to learn a new skill and connect to each other and their culture.
They solicited help and expertise from Dene fashion designer D'Arcy Moses, a citizen of Pedzéh Kı̨ First Nation in Wrigley, N.W.T., a community of about 135 along the Mackenzie region in the Dehcho.
Under Moses' expert instruction, each person cut a vest's worth of melton wool, heavy satin lining and traditional smoke-tanned moosehide trim — all sized to fit them individually. They each came up with their own designs — Dene rose flowers, wolves, a tree of life — which were machine-embroidered to decorate their vests.
"It's the first of its kind that I've ever done, working with just men," said Moses, who has offered vest-making workshops for women, outside his work making Dene couture.
"It's not just grandmothers or aunties or mothers making vests for the men in the family, but these guys are learning how to make their own vests," said Moses. "It's groundbreaking. And these guys are really into it."
Chief Kele Antoine wasn't sure how many men would sign up. They quickly filled the 10 spots.
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