Artist Spotlight: Curtis Oland

Artist Spotlight is a fashion-focused segment that takes a deep dive into the unique backstories and their creative processes. Highlighting the fashion industry's hidden gems and innovative talents.

Curtis Oland is a Lil’Wat fashion designer and interdisciplinary artist from Okanagan Valley of British Columbia. Oland’s menswear brand is currently based in Vancouver, Canada. After high school, Oland went to study fine art with a concentration in sculpture at Emily Carr University in Vancouver. While in school he gained an interest in history and textiles which then led him to enroll in a fashion program at Ryerson University. After grad school, Oland decided to move to London to pursue an internship at Savile Row to gain industry experience. Soon after he became an assistant designer at Savile Row, Indigenous Fashion Week Toronto reached out to him to do a project and eventually reveal his own brand. Oland’s designs focused on ethical elements that are centered around Oland’s indigenous culture. His designs aim for people to evoke thought about where things come from. Oland grew up around ingenious practices, many of which taught him that you should appreciate and respect what you have for life and one another, and for the gifts we receive from the earth. Practicing sustainability within the design process is important because it places Oland within the ethical change that's happening in the industry.

Sources:

Allaire, C. (2018, May 30). Meet 6 Indigenous Designers Using Fashion as Advocacy. Vogue. https://www.vogue.com/article/indigenous-fashion-designers-cultural-appropriation-activism

About. (n.d.). C u r t i s o l a n d. Retrieved October 20, 2021, from http://www.curtisoland.com/about