When the Emmy Awards happened Sunday night, it wasn’t just gowns, tuxes and trophies in the spotlight. This year, among the glitz and glamour included something more Haligonian: the signature lighthouse of Nova Scotian Nautique Clothing, sailing east from Halifax onto the red carpet.
Jenna and Julia Ross are a mother-and-daughter team from Halifax whose fashion and food ventures intertwine. They are the founders of Nova Scotian Nautique Clothing, a line that draws from Atlantic winds, rugged beauty and the stoic symbolism of the lighthouse. Alongside Nautique, Jenna runs the Nova Scotian Cookie Company, known for its shortbread cookies shaped like lighthouses and produced through a social enterprise partnership with the Flower Cart Group in New Minas.
“Nautique is new and it was inspired when the models of Soli Management walked down the runway at Halifax Fashion Week carrying mini suitcase packages,” Jenna said. That runway moment served as a bridge between their two enterprises—cookies and clothing—and planted the seed for Nautique’s aesthetic: a fusion of taste, texture and visual identity rooted in Nova Scotia.
At this year’s Emmy Awards gifting suite in Los Angeles, they included a navy ball cap embroidered with the Nautique lighthouse logo paired with a box of Nova Scotian Cookie Co. shortbread. The gift set is small but symbolic, offering nominees a literal and visual taste of Nova Scotia. The cap, with its maritime navy colour and crisp lighthouse design, is meant to be more than merchandise. It’s a statement: home matters, place matters, artistry matters.
What makes Nautique—and its sister cookie company—stand out, according to Julia, is the level of care Jenna puts into every product: the design details, the sourcing, the visual identity and the packaging, all telling a story. Jenna notes both businesses are woman-owned and operated, and are tied to social impact. The cookies are baked by the Flower Cart Group, a social enterprise, giving back to the community. In a world of mass branding, Nautique offers something grounded: a lighthouse not just for navigation, but for identity.
For Jenna, being invited to the DPA gifting suite at the Emmys is “an honour”— and also a milestone. It’s affirmation that something born in Halifax, inspired by aprons, boxes, cookies and runways, can find recognition on a global stage. Professionally, it opens doors. Personally, it brings a surge of pride: seeing their signature lighthouse on caps and cookies that could wind up photographed in stairwells and backstage hallways.
She credits her family—and her daughter Julia— for encouragement, but also points to many business organizations that supported their growth.
After the Emmys, Jenna hopes to extend Nautique’s reach to other major cultural events, including New York Fashion Week, Paris Fashion Week and the Cannes International Film Festival. Julia has a dream celebrity she hopes to meet at the gifting suite.
“I’d want Selena Gomez because she’s always inspired me to be myself, like in her song Who Says. That song means a lot to me, and it would be so special if she noticed something else that means a lot to me,” Julia said.
What the Rosses hope celebrities and industry professionals take away is more than a taste or a fashion accessory. They want people to feel the importance of where you come from—and to be proud of it. Nautique isn’t just a brand; it’s an invitation to carry home with you. Whether it’s the silhouette of a lighthouse on a cap, the crisp cookie shaped in light or the apron worn on a runway, they hope the message shines through: identity, pride and love of place endure.
From The Mills Halifax Fashion Week runways to the Emmy Awards gifting suite, with a lighthouse in every stitch and shape, Jenna and Julia Ross are inviting the world to look east — and maybe, just maybe, see their light.