The National Indigenous Fashion Awards (NIFA) are back for 2025. Designed to celebrate the creativity, strength and innovation of First Nations peoples in fashion, the awards recognise 38 finalists across seven different categories, including the Fashion Designer Award, the Cecilia Cubillo Young Achiever Award and more.
This year also marks the 10th anniversary of Country to Couture. A series of runways, Country to Couture has been a vital platform for Indigenous fashion and talent and has helped facilitate collaborations and national recognition for many different Indigenous-owned labels. Two runways will take place on August 5, showcasing 22 collections from across the country.
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The NIFA winners will be announced the following day on August 6 and determined by a panel of judges featuring founder and curator of Australian Indigenous Fashion Yatu Widders-Hunt, mixed-cultural First Nations artist and curator Lisa Waup and head of design at Country Road Jessica Poynter.
Open to the public, the Country to Couture runway and award ceremony will be held on Larrakia Country, and tickets to attend will be released in early June through Indigenous Fashion Projects. For now, get to know some of the nominated designers below.
Meet NIFA’s Fashion Designer Award nominees
The Fashion Designer Award recognises an individual designer for their creative and commercial efforts. The winner will have the choice between receiving a $5,000 prize or a 12-month mentorship with Country Road, covering areas including marketing, product development, sustainability and sales.
Samala Cronin, MumRed
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In the less than two years since Samala Cronin founded her label, Mum Red, her work has made waves. She’s already opened a show at Melbourne Fashion Week, been featured in various publications and has been nominated for multiple NIFA awards. Also a sylist, the Butchulla, Woppaburra and Lardil woman considers Mum Red to be more than just fashion. “It’s a movement,” she says on an Instagram post published late last year. “It’s a labor of love that comes from knowing that my work is an extension of myself – my culture, my people, and my passion.”
Tahnee Edwards, Gammin Threads
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Tahnee Edwards first started Gammin Threads as a creative side hustle. Inspired by the 2018 NAIDOC Week theme, ‘Because of Her, We Can’, Gammin Threads was created to honour the Blak women in Tahnee’s community. “I’m a staunch feminist and have strong political views, but I also don’t take myself or life too seriously, which reflects a lot of my pieces,” she told Fashion Journal in 2023. A proud Yorta Yorta and Taungurung woman, she runs the label while working at Aboriginal family violence prevention service, Djirra.
Melissa Greenwood, Miimi and Jiinda
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Melissa Greenwood launched Miimi and Jinda in 2018 alongside her mother, Lauren Jarrett. The Gumbaynggirr women and mother-daughter duo started out by creating original artworks, but Melissa has since led the label’s expansion into fashion.
“Each piece I create is a tribute to my ancestors, my grandmothers and my great-grandmothers, the matriarchs of my family who paved the way for me to be here today,” she told Fashion Journal ahead of the label’s debut at Australian Fashion Week‘s new Generation runway earlier this year.
Natisha Tabua, Off the Plantation
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For Melbourne Fashion Week’s closing showcase late last year, Natisha Tabua joined forces with Lucas Schober and Clothing the Gaps to create a show-stopping gown, with the words ‘Our oceans are rising and so are we’ hand-painted on the train. A Papua New Guinean, Torres Strait Islander, Fijian and Indian designer and founder of Off the Plantation, Natisha is known for her ability to merge sustainable fashion practices with couture design.
Clair Helen Parker, Clair Helen
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As the first Indigenous graduate from the Sydney’s Whitehouse Institute of Design Clair Helen has carved a distinct path for herself the Australian Fashion industry. Hailing from the Tiwi Islands, Clair draws on her skills in embroidery, pattern making and graphic design to make both bespoke, one-off pieces and ready-to-wear collections. She has previously opened the Ganbu marra runway at Melbourne Fashion Festival.
Who are the other NIFA nominees?
Beyond the esteemed Designer Award, there are six other award categories recognising excellence in textile design, traditional adornment, community collaboration and more.
Cecilia Cubillo Young Achiever Award
The Young Achiever Award recognises the outstanding efforts of a young person aged 15 to 25, who is seen to be excelling in fashion, textile design, styling, modelling or making wearable art and jewellery. The winner will be awarded a $3,000 cash prize. This year’s nominees include journalist and model, Tiesha Munnich, model Elliot (Mango) Aplin, artist and model Jake Powers and model Cindy Rostron.
Textile Design Award
This award recognises an individual for their work in textiles design, offering the winner professional development, tailored to their skillset, at RMIT’s School of Fashion and Textiles. There are six nominees, including Gregory Salt, Karen Shuan and Laurence Gibson of Yalanji Arts, Joyce Dixon and Larissa Brumby of Ikuntji Artists and Rhonda Sharpe of Yarrenyty Arltere Artists.
Traditional Adornment Award
The Traditional Adornment Award, supported by Helen Kaminski, shines a spotlight on the creation of pieces as a means to express culture and comes with a $3,000 cash prize. There are five nominees this year, including Cassie Leatham, Jenny Fraser, Ngaire Pakai, Rena Ngalinggama Guyula, Gapuwiyak Culture and Arts and Yaraan Bundle.
Wearable Art Award
The Wearable Art Award is a celebration of design, craftsmanship and artistry and celebrates an individual designer for the creation of a single piece of clothing, accessory or jewellery. Andrew Wanamilil (Bula’bula Arts), Cassie Leatham (Yanggurdi), Cathy Ward (Waringarri Arts), Cleonie Quayle (CQ Aboriginal Jewellery), Ellen Trevorrow and Julieanne Gitjpulu Malibirr (Gapuwiyak Culture and Arts) are all included in this year’s lineup of nominees.
Community Collaboration Award
The Community Collaboration Award is a recognition of two-way relationships between First Nations communities and the fashion industry. The recipient will be awarded a $10,000 cash prize, split between each collaborator.
The collaborations between Djilpin Arts x Kate Sale, Fiona Gavino and Fleur Parry, Wendy Hubert, Juluwarlu x Emily Wright, Nancybird, Gapuwiyak Culture and Arts x Helen Kaminski, Gina Bundle and community members, David Leslie, Gali Swimwear x Jake Simon, IYDA and Michal Nicolas, TEAMM8, and Jilamara Arts and Crafts Association, are all up for nomination.
Business Achievement Award
This award spotlights an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander business for its creative and commercial achievements, and its positive contribution to the Indigenous fashion sector. This year, businesses Magpie Goose, Gali swimwear, Ikuntji Artists, Marley Morgan Photography, Miimi and Jiinda and MumRed are all shortlisted.
For more on the National Indigenous Fashion Awards, try this.
This article The shortlist for the 2025 National Indigenous Fashion Awards is here appeared first on Fashion Journal.
2025-06-03 11:18:00
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