It was a meaningful moment that extended beyond just earning a splashy celebrity placement: Williams chose to wear Louis’s sweater on Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Day, which honors the history of Indigenous children who were forcibly taken from their homes and forced into Canada’s residential school system, a movement that lasted until 1996. (He also wore an orange ribbon, the day’s official symbolic color.) “Love that he’s giving a nod to the day,” wrote a Williams fan on Instagram. “He knows that this will generate sales of the sweater, thus supporting that Indigenous artist as well as just bringing the awareness of Indigenous artists to the forefront.”
For Louis, the impact was instantly felt: The brand gained hundreds of new followers as a result, and the sighting also earned the designer thousands of dollars in sales. Below, Louis shares more of the story behind how his viral cardigan placement came to be.
Vogue: So, how did this whole thing begin?
Louis: I was told that Hudson wanted to support an Indigenous designer for [Canada’s] Truth and Reconciliation Day. He was very intentional about wanting to wear something by an Indigenous designer, and he must have been doing some research and came across my stuff. He found that cardigan, fell in love with it, and wanted to wear it for the red carpet in New York. That’s the coolest thing you can ask for as an Indigenous designer: We make our stuff for everybody! We love to see other people wear it.
What inspired the specific design of that cardigan?
The design is called “The Journey.” It’s actually from a dream I had about being back home at my dad’s. In the dream, I was wondering where all my ancestors were. It was in the wintertime, and when you look over the prairies, you see all of the blue hues from the moon. That’s where the tipi and the colors come from: It represents the time in winter when the moon is big and lights the prairies up. The stars represent where my ancestors were: In the dream, the stars turned into eyeballs to represent my ancestors looking down on me. The sweater represents being far away from home and feeling disconnected, but realizing that your ancestors are with you always.
Williams in the Justin Jacob Louis sweater.
Photo: Backgrid
