Viral Success and Ribbon Skirts: How One Designer Turned Culture Into Confidence

By Chevi Rabbit, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

(ANNews) – For Doneese of Bull-Buffalo Designs, a ribbon skirt is never just clothing.

It is identity, memory, and cultural continuity stitched into fabric and ribbon—something she says is felt the moment it is worn.

“I just feel empowered when I put it on,” said Doneese, a mother and wife from Louis Bull Tribe in Maskwacîs, one of the Four Nations in central Alberta. “It just represents our culture. And it’s not just Cree—it’s all Indigenous. It just represents who we are.”

For her, that sense of empowerment extends into everyday life. “It doesn’t matter where you are,” she said. “You can go to the grocery store or a ceremony—you just feel it when you wear it. You feel empowered.”

Early lessons and lasting influence

Doneese’s journey into sewing began long before Bull-Buffalo Designs existed, rooted in a high school fashion class that helped shape her early skills and confidence.

“I attended a fashion class in high school, and my teacher was Trudy Saddleback,” she recalled. “We just hit it off, and she started teaching me all the basics of sewing and beading.”

That mentorship continued well beyond graduation. “Even after I finished all three classes and graduated, I still kept in touch with her,” she said. “She kept giving me pointers and teaching me.”

Those early teachings led her into beadwork, moss bags, and bonnets, and she still keeps the sewing kit her teacher once gave her. “I still have it today. I never got rid of it.”

Her love of sewing, however, stretches even further back. “I actually loved sewing since I was a kid,” she said. “I used to make dresses out of my mom’s and auntie’s clothes—especially their scarves. I’d dress up my cousins and we’d do fashion shows. I just didn’t know it would actually become something later in life.”

The pandemic and a turning point

The COVID-19 pandemic became a defining moment in her journey, shifting sewing from memory into necessity and creative practice. “During the pandemic, my sisters all needed ribbon skirts,” Doneese said. “Back then, it wasn’t that common. It was actually hard to find someone making ribbon skirts in 2020.”

With limited access to makers and few tutorials available online, she turned to self-teaching. “I just thought I would teach myself,” she said. “Even YouTube, I couldn’t find much. I’d be lucky if I found one or two videos. There weren’t tutorials on regalia or skirt making like there are today.”

So she began learning through repetition, experimentation, and patience. “I was self-taught, and I just started making them.”

From self-taught sewing to viral success

As her skills developed, Doneese began sharing her work online. What started as casual posting quickly reached a much wider audience. “I made a TikTok, and one of my videos went viral,” she said. “I had my mom and my aunties wearing the ribbon skirts I made, and I put together a video of all of them. That’s where all my followers started.”

That moment marked the beginning of Bull-Buffalo Designs as both a creative practice and a growing platform. “I started uploading more of what I made,” she said. “I just started getting the hang of it.”

Every ribbon skirt begins with texture, feel, and intuition at the fabric store. “When I go to the fabric store, I always look at the lace first,” she said. “Then I go on to the bridal satin, and I choose what goes with it. I feel the fabric—are they soft? Are they good?”

Ribbons take the most time and consideration. “It takes me a while,” she said. “I sit there and I’m constantly rearranging the ribbons, looking at the colour choices. Even if it doesn’t match perfectly, as long as the ribbons work together, I’m going to choose it.”

Each design becomes its own expression—no two pieces identical, each shaped by instinct and creativity.

More than clothing

For Doneese, ribbon skirts carry deep meaning far beyond appearance. They are symbols of confidence, identity, and cultural strength. “I just want people to feel empowered,” she said. “I’ve had people wear them in shows and say, ‘I felt amazing wearing it,’ or ‘I felt empowered.’ It just gives you this confidence. Inside and out—you’re going to feel it.”

That connection is also spiritual. “Yes,” she said when asked if she feels her ancestors with her. “You feel it. You feel your culture. You feel your tradition.”

While Doneese is proud of her roots in Louis Bull Tribe, she is intentional about representing something larger. “I not only represent Louis Bull,” she said. “I try to represent the Four Nations because of the youth. I don’t want people to think it’s only Louis Bull. I come from the Four Nations.”

She says that perspective is shaped by the youth who reach out to her across Maskwacîs. “I get a lot of messages from youth from the Four Nations,” she said. “And I just want to represent all four Nations, not just Louis Bull.”

Her designs are created for all Indigenous people to wear, purchase, and connect with—reflecting a broader vision of cultural pride across Nations.

At its core, Bull-Buffalo Designs is grounded in a simple idea: that clothing can carry identity, confidence, and connection at the same time.

“You just feel it,” she said. “You feel empowered.”