National Indigenous Fashion Awards Winners for 2025

Indigenous Fashion Projects (IFP) shares the winners for NIFA 2025

Published 12 August

In August, the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair (DAAF) Foundation and Indigenous Fashion Projects (IFP) celebrated the creativity and innovation of First Nations designers at the 2025 National Indigenous Fashion Awards (NIFA).

Recognising and showcasing excellence across seven categories, the ceremony provided a unique platform for the Australian and international fashion communities to connect with the world’s oldest living cultures.

As part of our ongoing support for First Nations creativity, QIC sponsored three of the seven award categories, honouring remarkable achievements within the industry.

Now is your chance to meet the winners for 2025.

Cleonie Quayle

Winner of NIFA Wearable Art Award 2025, supported by Eastland.

Cleonie Quayle’s Jacaranda Seed Pod Mini Dress is a remarkable fusion of nature, culture, and couture that redefines wearable art. Comprising over 700 hand-lacquered jacaranda seed pods trimmed with gold foil, the dress showcases meticulous craftsmanship, structural innovation, and sustainability. Worn by BARKAA in We Up, the dress moves fluidly while retaining sculptural integrity, proving both its visual and performance strength. Drawing from First Nations traditions, Cleonie transforms overlooked natural materials into powerful expressions of resilience, cultural identity, and respect for Country. Her work challenges fast fashion, centres First Nations perspectives, and reimagines traditional storytelling in a contemporary, high-fashion context—offering a bold, original statement on sustainability, creativity, and cultural preservation.

Jilamara Arts x Tiwi Artists Milikapati Community

Winner of NIFA Community Collaboration Award 2025, supported by Canberra Centre.

Parlini Jilamara Ngini Parlingarri is a Tiwi-led community fashion collaboration that revives nine historic 1980s screen-printed textile designs from Jilamara Arts, transforming them into garments that celebrate Tiwi culture, identity, and intergenerational creativity. Initiated by young artist Arthurina Moreen and supported by elders, printers, and the Muluwurri Museum team, the project involved digitising original screens, researching colourways, and printing fabrics locally in Milikapiti. Models—community members—chose and styled their own outfits, mentored by professional Tiwi model Cassie Black for a DAAF 2024 showcase. Every stage, from licensing and printing to modelling and storytelling, demonstrated First Nations agency, cultural pride, and economic opportunity. Reimagining Jilamara (ceremonial ochre designs) as wearable art, the project connects past and present while celebrating Tiwi fashion for both local pride and broader recognition.

Mimi and Jiinda

Winner of NIFA Business Achievement Award 2025, supported by QIC.

Miimi & Jiinda is an innovative First Nations mother-daughter brand that combines high-quality sustainable fashion and contemporary First Nations art to celebrate Gumbaynggirr culture. Since its founding in 2018, the business has broken new ground through collaborations with major Australian brands and participation in high-profile fashion events like Australian and London Fashion Weeks. Their products, which include eco-friendly clothing and traditional woven items, emphasise cultural storytelling, environmental care, and community empowerment. With a strong focus on sustainability and creating employment opportunities, Miimi & Jiinda also run a mentoring program for First Nations youth, supporting the growth of future artists and designers. The brand’s success and authentic cultural expression have made it a leading force in elevating First Nations voices within the Australian and global fashion industries.

Clair Helen Parker

Winner of NIFA Fashion Designer Award 2025

Clair Helen, a proud Tiwi woman and the first First Nations graduate of Sydney’s Whitehouse Institute of Design, creates original and culturally rich fashion by blending traditional First Nations artistry with contemporary styles. Her label offers both bespoke wearable art and ready-to-wear collections inspired by her Northern Territory heritage, emphasising storytelling through bold colors, First Nations symbolism, and sustainable materials like cotton, linen, and silk. Committed to ethical production and fair labor practices, Clair Helen collaborates closely with Tiwi communities, including partnerships with Bima Wear, to preserve and empower First Nations culture. With notable showcases at Australian and Melbourne Fashion Weeks and a custom gown designed for the 2017 Academy Awards, her work combines cultural pride, craftsmanship, and commercial success, positioning her as a leading figure in Australian First Nations fashion.

Cindy Rostron

Winner of NIFA Cecilia Cubillo Young Achiever Award 2025.

Cindy Rostron is an exceptional First Nations model and youth leader who bridges her rich Bunungku/Kardbam heritage with the global fashion industry. Rising from her remote upbringing in Arnhem Land, Cindy has gained international acclaim as a Vogue Australia cover model and is signed with The Face Paris, showcasing at major fashion weeks and collaborating with prominent brands. Beyond modeling, Cindy actively shares her culture through digital platforms, engages in cultural advocacy, and mentors First Nations youth, exemplifying leadership and resilience. Her journey uniquely blends traditional First Nations knowledge with contemporary fashion, overcoming significant challenges to inspire and empower others, making her a standout figure in both fashion and community advocacy.

Rhonda Sharpe

Winner of NIFA Textile Design Award 2025.

Rhonda Sharpe’s textile designs are crafted from recycled woollen blankets, dyed using native Arrernte plants and discarded metal, then stitched with wool, cotton, and emu feathers. Her process—boiling the blankets for three days—transforms them into richly textured, felted canvases that she adorns with expressive, instinctive stitching. Her simple yet powerful mark-making conveys complex cultural narratives, celebrating family, identity, and life as a Town Camp woman. Deeply sustainable and community-focused, Rhonda reuses every material and involves others in her creative process. Her work is both innovative and original, blending traditional knowledge with contemporary expression, and has earned national recognition for its artistic and cultural significance.

Rena Ngalinggama Guyula

Winner of NIFA Traditional Adornment Award.

Rena’s Gay’wu (string bag) is a powerful expression of living culture, tradition, and innovation. Made from bush string using fibres from the Kurrajong tree, the process involves harvesting, pounding, dyeing with quinine leaves and rusty metal to achieve deep blacks, and spinning the fibre by hand. Woven around her legs into a cylindrical shape, the bag reflects the same methods passed down through generations. Traditionally worn on the head for practical use, Gay’wu holds ancestral stories of creation, food gathering, and cultural continuity. Today, Rena reimagines the form for the body, blending function and adornment while preserving its deep cultural roots. Her work honours ancestral knowledge while responding to contemporary aesthetics and sustainability, making Gay’wu both a cultural vessel and a modern art form.