Warren Steven Scott was immersed in the North American and European fashion cultures since he was a child and had memories of obsessively flipping through magazines and watching the iconic Canadian television series, Fashion File. The designers inspired him with their fantastical and other-worldly garments, offering him a dream and an alternative future that he assumed to be an unattainable way of life.
Warren Steven Scott is an accessory and fashion designer, tailor and craftsperson, and an Indigenous member of the Nlaka’pamux Nation in present-day British Columbia. His unique and distinctive creations are inspired by his ancestral worldview on ethics, craft, and aesthetic sensibility that blends with the Western concept of luxury fashion to create genuine Canadian fashion.
Warren began his higher education by enrolling in horticultural studies, but left school when he realized his love and passion for fashion. He started with a curious, open mind and devised a plan to pursue his dream of designing clothes with zero sewing knowledge. When assembling his first portfolio application, Scott self-taught sewing and, in 2011, attended Ryerson University, graduating with a Bachelor of Design in Fashion. After graduation, Scott interned for esteemed Canadian designers Jeremy Laing and Comrags, a period he considers his formal training. In 2018, Warren Steven Scott formed his own label.
During the pandemic, business took off for Warren as people came in to support small and BIPOC businesses. Though it’s hard to grow a business at any time, Scott’s statement earrings became popular with their colorful ovoid shapes inspired by his Salish roots, which beautifully exhibit the Salish formline that is considered the ‘mother shape’ in Salish design. It is a widely recognized design element from Indigenous Pacific Northwest carvings, like totem poles.
Warren experiments with his earring designs by including S-shaped feather earrings and layering them on top of each other. In addition, he works towards creating sustainable fashion with his acrylic earrings, made entirely of recycled materials, and he reuses the scraps and leftovers from his acrylic sheets to make graphic artwork. Warren Steven Scott’s earrings are becoming a trend among politicians and celebrities alike, with U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and Reservation Dogs star Devery Jacobs adorned in his statement pieces.
Warren was always interested in apparel designing, though his first success and recognition came with his earrings. In 2018, he debuted his first collection, Sissy, at the inaugural Indigenous Fashion Week Toronto. The collection of ready-to-wear assortment showed Scott’s approach to designing a modern fashion image through an Indigenous lens. The Sissy woman is cute, fluid, and enviable, representing a vision of girlishness and familial sisterhood.
As a part of branching out his label, he launched his next collection, titled Cedar in Sec-he Sky, which explored the duality between modernity and tradition. It was filled with vibrant hues in cotton tunic dresses, flared floral skirts, and ruffled tops. His cultural traditions also inspired the dresses, which refer to basket weaving and woven cedar clothing from the Pacific Northwest.
Warren uses his jewelry to explore and connect with his Indigeneity and is proud of the community and culture to which he belongs. He sees Indigenous fashion as a way that each designer uses to show their relationship with their Indigenous culture based on social sharing and community.
The two-time bursary recipient of Indspire is an aspiring talent in the Indigenous community. To know more about the label and its products, visit its website, https://warrenstevenscott.com/.
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