Artist Spotlight: Evan Ducharme

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.

Evan Ducharme is a women’s ready-to-wear fashion designer from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Ducharme is from the Métis tribe and his label, Evan Ducharme, is based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Ducharme’s first introduction to fashion and sewing came from being born into a family of dressmakers. As a child Ducharme would always poke around in his mother’s sewing box, she was a seamstress in the community who made dresses for baptisms and weddings. When he got older he gained basic knowledge of fashion, including things such as how to sew and cut, through his mother’s aunt. In 2010 he went to study fashion at the Visual College of Art and Design in Vancouver and then went on to open his fashion label in 2012. In an interview with WorkingItOutTogether Ducharme stated that he didn’t even plan on starting his own company but after being asked to show his collection at ECO fashion week his journey in fashion started to take off. In 2018 Ducharme showcased an extension of his collection Atavism at Toronto’s Indigenous Fashion Week in Vancouver. The collection features pieces that have a Métis influence steaming from his upbringing. Ducharme stated that he makes clothes for Indigenous folks, his community, and his family. His clothes are about their stories, struggles, happiness, and joy.

Sources:

Atavism. (n.d.). WIOT. Retrieved October 14, 2021, from http://workingitouttogether.com/content/atavism/

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