Artist’s paintings taken to new canvas

Metis artist Christi Belcourt has taken a temporary leap into fashion with stunning results.

Italian fashion company Valentino approached her this year with designs for a new line featuring patterns and detailing inspired by Belcourt’s work. Belcourt, who was contacted by email initially, researched the company before accepting their offer.

“I had to know who they were and their track record with cultural appropriation. The first thing I asked was if they had any models walk down the runway wearing headdresses,” said Belcourt, of her concern that Indigenous inspired pieces would be used inappropriately. “They said they hadn’t, and that was really important to me.”

Some of Belcourt’s paintings are floral patterns resembling traditional First Nations beadwork. It’s these designs in particular the company is using on 10 dresses and outfits for their 2016 House of Valentino Resort Collection. Belcourt met fabric designer Francesco Bova in Toronto where he showed her the pieces of material and sketches of the designs they planned to use.

“I honestly could not have added anything more. What could you say to something that was already beautiful? At that point, it would just be rude to criticize,” said Belcourt, who was impressed by the designs, but even more impressed with the company’s respectfulness on the process of consulting her.

“I appreciate anything creative… from one artist to another. Especially if people are trying to make beautiful things,” she said.

Belcourt has been creating art since she was a child. She is from Lac St. Anne, a Michif community in the north. She considers her heritage a key piece of who she is as well as inspiration for the works she produces now.  Beyond that, nature is another source of inspiration for her, so Valentino’s dedication to the environment boded well for them in her eyes.  

“They told me they had been voted number one by Greenpeace, in all of the fashion industry for the eco-conscious materials they use. They also pledged to use 100 per cent material that is not damaging to water by 2020,” she said. 

Belcourt is so passionate about the environment, she has been working alongside two other artists, Erin Konsmo and Isaac Murdoch, on The Onamen Collective since 2014. The Onamen Collective gives youth across Canada a chance to create or learn about a variety of art projects, such as making their own murals, viewing pictographs on historic sites, learning traditional stories and languages from Elders, and attending traditional ceremonies.

She also had her design chosen for a stained glass window that was erected in Centre Block of Parliament to commemorate the legacy of former Indian residential school students.

Belcourt has also been heavily involved with the Walking with our Sisters movement—a memorial art project dedicated to Canada’s missing and murdered Indigenous women.

“Walking with Our Sisters has been life changing for me because of the power of the ceremony, and seeing how people have been touched by it,” she said. “Going into spaces and telling people to turn their space over to the community, so they
can host this memorial, and have community people come and volunteer… Everybody’s giving their heart for it,” she said.

As far as her latest move into the fashion industry is concerned, Belcourt is flattered by Valentino’s adaptations of her work, but she maintains her humility. She still attributes her desire to keep going and keep creating to her connection with her social art projects. 

“It’s all that grassroots stuff we’re involved in that keeps me inspired every single day. There might be things written on a resume that look like milestones in a career, but those things don’t matter as much as being part of something that’s just good, and decent… and accomplishes change, hopefully,” she said.

Photo caption: Christi Belcourt‘s painting, Water
Song, which Valentino’s Francesco Bova turned into fabric samples made for some technical challenges when the scale of the design was reduced to work on a skirt or a jacket. (Photo: Christi Belcourt)