Threading New Ground

Threading New Ground

Fashion can be many things — aspiration, armour, esthetic. But in the hands of designers like Alex Manitopyes (SACRD THNDR) and Thea Thomas (Threads By Thea), it becomes something more: a way to carry story, honour ancestry and reimagine what contemporary Indigenous fashion looks like on the body.

In this episode, we enter the studios of two Calgary-based designers who are reshaping the landscape of Indigenous fashion through both leaning in and leaning out of the lines that tradition, identity and industry try to draw around them.

We explore how their work blurs the line between ceremony and runway, where couture meets community, and how garments become vessels of both protection and power. This is a story about threads that weave through culture, kinship and creativity, emerging into something fierce and unapologetically new.

Starring: Thea Thomas, Alex Manitopyes

Host: Adora Nwofor @statuesse

Production House: FOREIGNERZ @sansfuccs

Director: Vince Raquel @vinceraquel

Producer: Eman Safadi, CONTRA 

Director of Photography: Vince Raquel @vinceraquel

Second Camera: Jevan Bailey

Editor: Vince Raquel @vinceraquel

Assistant Editor: Eman Safadi, CONTRA

Colourist: Vince Raquel 

Unit Photographer: Jevan Bailey

Sound Design: Vince Raquel

Location Sound Mixer: Jevan Bailey, Vince Raquel

Title Sequence: Cole Edwards @colee.design

Music: 

ceo – Prod. Stepjayc

“HA” – Prod. C12

10MONTHS – Prod. 8een

PACIFIC – metoprahh

9am – prod.WaVyMason

KNOT – Prod. Vrdnyn

Empathy –  Prod kevenndarcy

Black & Blue – yogic beats

FRESCA – Prod by remdolla 

Fashion Week – lxnelybeats

ALAMEDA ST. –  Prod. 8een


About the Living a Creative Life Web Series

Calgary Arts Development launched this web series to celebrate the thousands of Calgarians who are living creative lives in our city.

The Living a Creative Life web series, hosted by local activist and comedian Adora Nwofor and produced by Foreignerz, will release a new episode each month.

Have a story to share? Email us at submissions@calgaryartsdevelopment.com.

Tune in and be sure to subscribe to the #yycLCL channel on YouTube for premiere reminders.

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