Meet the local Indigenous designer set for UK show

Jill Setah, an Indigenous fashion designer from Westbank, will be bringing her designs to a big international audience for the third time in her career.

Setah was contacted via Instagram to be featured in the Night at the Museum: Guilded Glamour Charity Gala.

It will take place Feb. 24 at the Museum of Natural History in Oxford, England with proceeds going to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Prince’s Trust (the UK’s leading youth charity founded by King Charles III in 1976), and YoungMinds, (the UK’s leading charity championing the mental health and wellbeing of young people).

“The organizers told me they were researching designers that were inclusive. I've used two spirited, plus size models, children and regular runway models in my shows in the past,” she told Kelowna10. “They said that’s a designer we’re looking to bring on board with them, someone who included everybody.”

She added incorporating Indigenous culture into her designs, whether it’s beads, or the language, is very important, along with raising awareness for residential school survivors, and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Both her mom and dad are residential school survivors.

It’s expected Setah will bring up to five pieces for the show, including a shirt with ‘Every Child Matters’ embroidered onto it.

Setah is proud of what she’s created, having also graced catwalks in London and Paris in the past.

“It gives me so much pride to be Indigenous and make it to these shows, because it’s not an easy journey,” she said. “Most shows it’s $10,000 an entry fee, I fundraise and work really hard to get to where I need to be to make sure I’m raising awareness and letting people know Indigenous people are still here and we are strong.”

A GoFundMe has been set up to help finance the trip with a goal of $5,000. There are also BINGO Dinner nights being held on the first three Fridays in February at the Ki-Low-Na Friendship Society on Leon Avenue.