• Photographed by Marley Morgan
    Photographed by Marley Morgan
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Wiradjuri, Gangulu, and Yorta Yorta woman Lillardia Briggs-Houston has taken out the top award at this year's National Indigenous Fashion Awards (NIFA). 

Based in Narrungdera/Narrandera, Wiradjuri Country, Briggs-Houston produces all her textiles and garments herself on Country, adapting traditional southeast Aboriginal cultural practices such as carving, bush dying and weaving to her work.

With her win, she accesses a 12-month business mentorship with award sponsor and Australian fashion brand Country Road.

Country Road head of design for womenswear Nimmi Premaratne, who presented the award, said she was immediately drawn to the artistry of Briggs-Houston's collections.

"In particular, her expertise in printmaking, with each textile hand-painted, printed and produced by the designer on Wiradjuri Country," Premaratne said.

“I look forward to learning more about the rich stories woven into Lillardia’s designs and supporting her journey as a designer through the 12-month Country Road mentorship.”

Speaking of her win, Briggs-Houston said it is a privilege to be recognised for her work and to be celebrated within a community of talented First Nations designers and creatives.

“As part of the Fashion Designer Award, I can’t wait to start my 12-month mentorship with Country Road and to have the opportunity to work with them and take my brand to new heights," Briggs-Houston said.

The award ceremony was held in the Northern Territory last night during the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair (DAAF) Foundation's week of events.

Briggs-Houston joins five other First Nations winners across various award categories, whittled down from a shortlist of 66 nominees.

The six winners (listed below), will each receive a range of tailored funding, mentorships and other opportunities through Indigenous Fashion Projects (IFP) and the presenting partners, designed to build their capability and commerciality.

“We’re so inspired by the breadth of work presented this year across the NIFA categories," IFP manager Michelle Maynard said. "The way we are seeing the transference of knowledge and story through the mediums of textiles and fashion are really exciting.

“The work of this year's winners all carry such a beautiful weaving together of traditional and contemporary practice imbued with deep connection, pride and love of Country and community. I think they really represent the heart of our people.”

The NIFA awards received a record increase in nominations this year, which Maynard cited as evidence of growth of the sector.

Winners spanned a range of categories including wearable art, textile design and traditional adornment, business achievement and community collaboration.

Indigenous Fashion Projects’ NIFA Winners 2023

Traditional Adornment Award, supported by the Northern Territory Government

Winner: Gapuwiyak Culture & Arts artists

Encouraging the creation of traditional cultural regalia, the Traditional Adornment Award considers the quality of construction, expression of living culture and preservation of Indigenous culture. Master weavers from Gapuwiyak Culture & Arts were selected for a collection of refashioned, upcycled silk, linen and cotton garments that found their roots in the 1930s. Inspired by the first Yolngu fashion depicted in Donald Thompson’s recent repatriated 1930s photographs, the artists revived traditional practices depicted in the photos and timelessly integrated these as contemporary fashion to produce pieces featuring colours from Country, including from berries, roots and leaves traditionally used to colour the fibre art that Yolngu artists are renowned for.

Community Collaboration Award, supported by Canberra Centre

Winner: Gapuwiyak Culture & Arts X Aly de Groot

As part of the collection that secured Gapuwiyak Culture & Arts the Traditional Adornment Award, judges also recognised the artists for their collaboration with Darwin artist and designer Aly de Groot. Working with Aly, the artists took the inspiration from the Donald Thompson photographs into a collaborative workshop to finalise 10 looks that were presented to resounding applause at Country to Couture and Melbourne Fashion Week last year. Bringing designers young and old together, the collection celebrated collaboration and drove economic benefit for the artists’ community.

Business Achievement Award, supported by Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair Foundation

Winner: Ikuntji Artists

Celebrating the commercial and creative success in textiles and fashion, this year’s Business Achievement Award goes to Ikuntji Artists, who are amongst the first Art Centres in the Western Desert to release its own textile collection, which now adorn various fashion and garment ranges, accessories and textiles. Through continued strategic collaborations, partnerships and projects, Ikuntji designs have been featured on the cover of Vogue and at London Pacific Fashion Week, with the artists releasing their own book Ikuntji Textiles. Telling stories in bright colours and forms, building layers, purposeful brushstrokes and mazes of linework, Ikuntji artists celebrate ceremony, country and culture in their designs and have amassed fans around the world.

Textile Design Award, supported by RMIT

Winner: Rowena Morgan - Nagula Jarndu

For the past 15 years Rowena has been producing hand printed textiles that tell the stories of her Kija ancestry and reflect her connection to Country – specifically the Landsdowne Ranges in East Kimberley. Consulting with her Elders to ensure her work is always culturally accurate, Rowena reflects the ochre, pindan earth, rocky riverbeds and plant and animal life of the Country in her work. In recent years she has diversified from traditional lino blocks, now incorporating recycled Styrofoam boxes to create printing blocks, carving and burning into the Styrofoam to add linework and texture to her work.

Wearable Art Award, supported by Robina Town Centre

Winner: Rhonda Sharpe - Yarrenyty Arltere Artists

Recognising a designer for the creation of a single item that demonstrates excellence in design, craft, cultural and artistic expression, Yarrenyty Arltere Artists’ Rhonda Sharpe was selected for her large and abundant dillybag inspired by her great grandmother Old Laddie. Harnessing age-old techniques, Rhonda turned to bush dyed blanket and sheepskin from a discarded artwork to create her piece, with the dillybag’s handle crafted from bush dyed silk stitched with cotton. Stunning emu feathers were shared by another artist who hunted them on Country – just like Old Laddie would generously share the food she would collect in her own dillybag.

Fashion Designer Award, supported by Country Road

Winner: Lillardia Briggs-Houston

Lillardia has built her label from a small rural community in south-west NSW since 2019 where she works exclusively on Country. Studying fashion at TAFE she was taught by her trained Wiradjuri grandmother from a young age and carries out all of her own pattern drafting, grading, sampling and textile production. She was a nominee for the inaugural 2021 ‘Indigenous designer of the year’ at the Australian Fashion Laureate, dual nominee at the National Indigenous Fashion Awards for three consecutive years and in 2022 won the ‘Wearable art’ category. 

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