Lizzo, Lily Gladstone among celebrities to wear designs by U of T Mississauga grad

In less than 10 years after graduating from the University of Toronto Mississauga, fashion designer Lesley Hampton has dressed celebrities and got a nod from Vogue magazine.

Hampton, who is an Anishinaabe artist and fashion designer, graduated from UTM in 2015 and is the 2024 inaugural recipient of the Hazel McCallion Alumni Award of Excellence, the university announced last month.

Winning the award is honour, Hampton told INsauga.com.

“It’s so exciting. I graduated from U of T in 2015 and through my time at UTM, I was able to see Hazel speak a number of times. She came to campus a lot,” Hampton said.

The former Mississauga mayor died on Jan. 29, 2023.

“I was always inspired whenever she came to campus,” Hampton said.

Hampton was born in Newfoundland and her family moved often for her father’s job. She is a member of Temagami First Nation and spent her formative years in Canada’s Arctic and Atlantic, Australia, England, Indonesia and New Caledonia.

She returned to Canada for school but was undecided on her career path at first.

“I actually applied to 13 different universities across Canada and the U.S.,” she said.

Interested in everything from veterinary medicine to psychology, she finally decided on UTM’s Art and Art History program because it gave her an opportunity to explore the conceptual side of art and try a variety of classes.

“I took a wide range of classes. I took some classes in geography, physics, I took a math class, which I failed,” she said.

Branching out helped her find a creative focus.

“It really helped me kind of develop as a human, develop as an artist, and then also with the program specifically, really develop my conceptual basis as an artist,” she said. “And I think that really helped in developing a brand and in developing a vision for my fashion design career.”

Soon after graduating, Hampton took the George Brown College fashion techniques and design program and started her brand while still at school. She began to work on the brand full-time in 2018.

Her career really took off in 2021 when U.S. rapper and singer Lizzo wore one of her designs on social media. She was also a 2021 Indspire Awards Youth recipient, and won a Fashion Impact Award at the 2021 Canadian Arts and Fashion Awards.

“I feel like everything kind of exploded in the last three years,” Hampton said.

As a fan of Lizzo, Hampton emailed her stylist and asked if the star could wear one of her designs while she was in Toronto. It didn’t work out for the Toronto show but about a year later, the singer wore one of her designs.

“It happened in the middle of COVID,” she said. “So it was really exciting to be at home in lockdown and just screaming and freaking out at my phone.”

More recently actress Lily Gladstone wore a Lesley Hampton Rainbow Warrior Skirt for her appearance on the Kelly Clarkson show.

“That was really incredible because Lily is so supportive of Indigenous talent,” Hampton said. “So to be able to have our work represent her and her journey was just so exciting. And then to be on the Kelly Clarkson show, which is such a throwback for me as well, because I was a Kelly fan back in the day.”

 

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Other career highlights so far include styling a campaign for the Toronto Raptors and creating custom designs for the Toronto Maple Leafs. She was named in the Forbes 30 Under 30 Local: Toronto list and the number one Canadian brand to keep your eye on by Vogue.

In 2023, she was the recipient of the Young Aboriginal Entrepreneur Award from the Canadian Council of Aboriginal Business.

Hampton’s 2024 collection, Alkaline, focuses on fashion’s power to neutralize the acidic or toxic and polarizing environment presented in the media and beyond.

To learn more about Lesley Hampton, see the website here. For more on the UTM award, see the website here.

Photos: Alvaro Goveia