The Dreamtime Project: empowering young indigenous women

By Kelly Jirsa

Image: The Dreamtime Project/ Facebook. Photography Chris Huzzard
Image: The Dreamtime Project/ Facebook. Photography Chris Huzzard
A new project is empowering young Australian aboriginal women through fashion and providing them with a support network to achieve their dreams.

The Dreamtime Project aims to inspire young indigenous women to follow their dreams. The project involves a programs for groups of young women, including education in grooming, self-care, aboriginal spirituality and culture.

The idea was conceived by Sylvia Giacci, fashion stylist and former model, and began with a modest Pozible crowd funding campaign to raise $5000. The project now partners with Edith Cowan University in Western Australia.

According to Giacci the project uses fashion as a vehicle to build confidence. She says that the philosophy behind the idea is based on “healing and spirituality”, instilling confidence and providing the tools for young women to reconnect with who they are and their own identity.

“If we don’t know who we are we are going to come up against lots of barriers in life”

“Having strength in your own identity and your character is what’s going to give you the confidence to move through life.”

Sylvia Giacci

The project has women thinking about their future, building aspirations and pathways to further education and training. In a short media package by the team, several young women participating speak excitedly about their dreams of becoming a CEO, an athlete, a criminal psychologist, a nurse, an architect, a fashion designer, an artist and an environmental scientist, among many other professions.

Facebook: Posted by The Dreamtime Project on Thursday, 1 October 2015
Facebook: Posted by The Dreamtime Project on Thursday, 1 October 2015

 

The team recently joined fashion designer Mauricio Alpizar at the 2015 New York fashion week to showcase his Spring/Summer collection.

 

FPNYFW! Cheyenne wearing the hand painted @alpizarfashion gown by Rebekah Treacy. Just amazing!

A photo posted by The Dreamtime Project (@thedreamtimeproject) on Sep 12, 2015 at 3:04pm PDT

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