b'INDSPIRE AWARD LAUREATEFASHION AS STORYTELLING By Nikita Weiss DayIndigenous designer Lesley Hampton embraces a new model of inclusion in the fashion industryL esley Hampton is an Anishinaabe artist and fashion designer focused on mental health awareness, body positivity, and authentic representation across fashion, film and media. Currently based out of Toronto, she is the creative director of LESLEY HAMPTON, an Indigenous-owned, size-inclusive clothing and accessory brand, as well as a signed curve model with B&M Model Management. Hamptons interest in fashion began at a young age, watching Jeanne Beker on Fashion Television. At the time I was living in Newfoundland, so really the only exposure I had to the world of fashion was through what I saw on TV, and in newsletters and magazines, she says. A member of Temagami First Nation, located in northern Ontario, Hampton actually spent her childhood living in many different places, including Canadas Arctic and the Atlantic coast, as well as Australia, England, Indonesia and New Caledonia. She identifies as a third culture kid, referring to children who spend their formative years in places that are not their parents homeland. I always had an interest in it [fashion] but knowing I was Indigenous, and that I always felt a little bigger than the norm, I never quite knew my place in the fashion industry, so it was always on the back burner [in terms] of a career idea, says Hampton. 52indspiration2022'