Emerging designers often say they admire fashion provocateurs like Iris van Herpen and the late Lee Alexander McQueen \u2014 creatives whose boundary-pushing feats of craft have left indelible marks on the collective psyche. Yet most of these young visionaries singing their praises have a long way to go in honing the technical skills \u2014 and singular design \u201cvoice\u201d \u2014 that sets such fashion figures apart from the rest of the industry.<\/p>\n
And this is why Saskatchewan-born Plains Cree fashion designer Jontay Kahm is so remarkable. At 28, the New York\u2013based talent has evolved from sketching music video inspirations in his bedroom to winning the Emerging Designer of the Year at the 2024 Canadian Arts and Fashion Awards (CAFA) and staging a fashion show at the Getty Center in Los Angeles last September.
\nKahm\u2019s oeuvre includes statement pieces like the \u2018Heaven on Earth\u2019 dress (a cocktail dress sewn with midnight blue feathers and an exoskeletal beaded embellishment) and \u2018Sunsets\u2019 (a full-length gown comprised of dyed pink-to-orange fringe). Both from Kahm\u2019s Ethereal Realms collection, which he showed at the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts (SWAIA) fashion show in September 2024, these designs evoke fantastical avant-garde fashion.<\/p>\n
Kahm\u2019s interest in fashion design began nearly two decades ago when he saw Lady Gaga\u2019s \u201cBad Romance\u201d video in his early teens. Growing up with no internet on the Mosquito Grizzly Bear\u2019s Head Lean Man First Nation reserve, he was inspired by Gaga\u2019s use of Alexander McQueen\u2019s clothing and overall alien aesthetic.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything about it was just so otherworldly to me and I wanted to be a part of it,\u201d recalls Kahm. \u201cGrowing up in Saskatchewan, I didn\u2019t see anything glamorous at all. It was all farmland, a very rural vibe, and I felt like a fish out of water.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kahm spent over $60 a month of his teenage allowance on magazines like Vogue to keep up with design trends, all the while drawing each look he saw Lady Gaga wear. \u201cI observed her Fame Monster era, learning more about the designers that she wore and about her stylist, Nicola Formichetti,\u201d Kahm says. \u201cAnd then lo and behold, I was drawing. At first, I was copying Gaga\u2019s looks, and then, later, I started to make my own designs out of boredom.\u201d<\/p>\n
That inclination grew into an attempt at making dresses on a children\u2019s sewing machine (though Kahm was still very young \u2014 his first fashion show turn was during a student talent show). \u201cIt didn\u2019t even have a foot pedal,\u201d he recalls. As a self-taught designer, he initially kept his creations private, only sharing them with close friends and his father, the late visual modern artist, Jeff Kahm. \u201cHe always wanted me to be an artist and he got his wish even though it wasn\u2019t through painting,\u201d Kahm says. \u201cWhen I first told him about fashion designing, he was very supportive and we started looking at schools together.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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<\/div>\nKahm had set his sights on renowned institutions like Parsons School of Design and Central St Martins but faced financial constraints, at least in the beginning. Kahm eventually enrolled in the studio arts program at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Sante Fe, New Mexico, where his father taught art. It was there that the younger Kahm crossed paths with a colleague and friend of his father\u2019s, professor Amber-Dawn Bear Robe. One of Kahm\u2019s instructors, she would become instrumental in igniting his career.<\/p>\n
Originally from Alberta and now based in Santa Fe, Bear Robe remembers being \u201ccompletely blown away\u201d after first seeing Kahm\u2019s designs. She has since staged several runway shows featuring Kahm\u2019s collections, including at the Getty Center\u2019s Indigenous Futurism fashion event and all of SWAIA\u2019s catwalk presentations.<\/p>\n
Included were Kahm\u2019s Ethereal Realms collection with its Christian motifs (crosses and three roses representing the Holy Trinity) and his debut collection, Regalian Bodies, which explored eternal life and absence \u2014 themes that were heavy on Kahm\u2019s mind when his father suddenly passed away while Kahm was still studying at IAIA.<\/p>\n
A maestro of materiality, Kahm liberally uses embellishments \u2014 beading, feathers and ribbons \u2014 to augment the drama of each garment while honouring his Indigenous ancestry. The extravagant Transcendence dress from the Regalian Bodies collection, for example, is crafted from feathers and fringe and features a double bustle detail inspired by male traditional fancy dress.<\/p>\n
Kham notes that it was while completing his BFA in studio arts at IAIA that he began to \u201creally hone in\u201d on bringing his culture, and the materiality of it, into his work. Inspiration came from being surrounded by Native people and Native culture \u2014 \u201cthe food, the imagery, the music.\u201d IAIA lacked a formal fashion program, so Kahm requested to fill that niche with a collection inspired by Cree regalia \u2014 vibrant colours, protruding feathers and swaths of fringe. \u201cI researched how to use feathers, beads and ribbons that way,\u201d says Kahm.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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\u201cHe has a unique design language unlike any other that I\u2019ve seen thus far,\u201d says Bear Robe. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing that he\u2019s able to grow and to see his vision come together, particularly in his explorations of powwow culture for the Cree people. And the way his vision is becoming a wonderful manifestation of contemporary couture fashion is rare. I\u2019m very lucky to be witnessing his growth.\u201d Kahm\u2019s opulent collections ultimately impressed Parsons faculty member Sariah Park, who offered him a full scholarship for a master\u2019s program after seeing his runway debut at SWAIA. This is the reason Kahm says he would do whatever Bear Robe wants him to do. \u201cI trust her judgment of what she wants for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kahm, who will be presenting his thesis collection at Parsons this fall, reflects on his trajectory. \u201cIt took me almost 10 years to find a recognizable aesthetic that showed what I was going to be known for. My work from 10 years ago does not look like the work I\u2019m doing right now.\u201d Kahm\u2019s fans and community \u2014 many of them are based in the U.S. Southwest, as Kahm had moved to Albuquerque to join his father \u2014 are waiting with bated breath, same as last fall, when Kahm was honoured by CAFA.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t think I would win and I didn\u2019t have a speech ready,\u201d Kahm says. \u201cAll the other candidates were so good, and I\u2019d overheard them speaking about business and manufacturing at a nominee lunch. I just thought there\u2019s no way I would win \u2014 I make all my stuff in my bedroom.\u201d<\/p>\n
This private space is where Kahm also continues to dream. He says he would love to become the creative director at Alexander McQueen, and perhaps be a guest designer for the Jean Paul Gaultier collaborative couture collections. The amplified budgets for these brand positions, Kahm notes, would allow his voluminous designs to reach even loftier heights.<\/p>\n
He also notes that Killers of the Flower Moon star Lily Gladstone wearing one of his designs to a premiere was another recent career high. She donned the \u2018Migration\u2019 dress from his Regalian Bodies collection, a design whose name was drawn from the experience he and his father had in moving to the United States from Canada to follow their American dream.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always envision [my work] in galleries and museums, on the red carpet, in magazines and music videos,\u201d Kahm says. \u201cThat\u2019s the kind of design I really liked looking at growing up, and that\u2019s why I create the pieces the way they are.\u201d<\/p>\n
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