Designer Profile | Dorothy Grant

Dorothy Grant was born and raised in Hydaburg, Alaska. In 1983 she began sketching Haida art onto garments. As the idea developed, she was motivated by non-Native designers who incorporated Northwest Coast Native art symbols into their clothing collections. She felt it was a poor representation of a beautiful art form. In 1994, Grant opened her first retail store in Vancouver, called Dorothy Grant, Ltd. She stated, “For the past 20 years I have been researching Haida designs in my local communities, and transforming this knowledge into garments.” Grant’s strong connection to her cultural heritage and deepened sense of Haida identity is the creative force behind her Feastwear and Dorothy Grant labels. Her vision is to merge art with fashion to forge a link between ancient custom and modern society through the creation of timeless wearable art.

(Note: This is an excerpt from my dissertation and is copyrighted material)

(Dorothy Grant design. Image courtesy of the School for Advanced Research, where Grant was the 2007 Dobkin Fellow.)

(Dorothy Grant design. Image courtesy of the School for Advanced Research, where Grant was the 2007 Dobkin Fellow.)

For more information, visit Dorothy Grant's website here.