Santa Fe’s Indian Market sets the stage for contemporary native fashion center – WWD

In the year In 2014, the first Santa Fe Indian Market Contemporary Indigenous Fashion Show was held in a public park with four designers, a budget of $200, and a yu-haw to get the models ready.

Fast forward to last weekend, the popular Judging Native Arts Show at the Santa Fe Convention Center hosts two sold-out runway shows each night with 14 designers, 100 feet of runway and more than 1,000 spectators.

The atmosphere was electric, with special effects and dancing; Celebrity models Amber Midender (“Prey”), Dee Pharoah won-a-ty (“Caught Dogs”) and lots of standing ovations.

“What’s changed is people want to see more, which is great. What’s left is all this amazing talent and designers that are so diverse in their collections and personalities and creativity,” said art historian Amber-Dawn Bear Robey, who reviews and produces the runway shows and dreams of creating an indigenous fashion week. Santa Fe

“It’s definitely been gaining interest over the years,” said Santa Fe-based Dine Special Events Designer Orlando Dougie, who is featured at every show.

But it was not without a struggle.

“Especially when I started, I was doing a very special costume … I wasn’t Native enough for some, I wasn’t Native enough for others,” Dougie said. “If someone saw my collection at the airport, they wouldn’t know I was Indigenous until they saw my face. From the native side, it was said, ‘Whoever wants to wear that belongs to the culture or our people’.

In the year Patricia Michaels, the first indigenous designer to appear on Project Runway in 2012, had a similar experience when she started making clothes 35 years ago.

“I come from Taos Pueblo, the oldest village in the Americas.” Michael said. “When I started, I had opponents who said my work was not good enough because I was using silk as a non-native material. People do not understand the movement of the times.

This is changing as a new generation of designers gain visibility in and out of their communities through fashion events and markets in Canada and the US, social media and locally-made shows like “Rutherford Falls.”

India Market, the world’s largest and most famous indigenous art market, celebrated its centenary over the weekend, showcasing the work of more than 800 artists from 250 nations in traditional pottery, basketry, jewelry, painting, sculpture, woodcarving and textiles. But fashion was a bigger focus than ever.

Current native fashion in focus

A number of Native American Hollywood stars are increasing their representation on screen, including Walking on the Stars, the first Native American superhero Midender; Woon-A-Tai (recently signed by IMG), and “Dark Wind” stars Zahn McClarnon, Jessica Matten, Kiowa Gordon and Eugene Brave Rock.

In the seats, in addition to collectors, curators, art patrons and local celebrities such as Sazon James Beard Award-winning chef Fernando Olia, were stalwarts of the fashion industry.

They include Ojibwe Vogue writer Christian Allaire, a key promoter of Native fashion. Beyond Buckskin online boutique founder Jessica Metcalfe (Turtle Mountain Chippewa); Native Max Fashion Magazine founder Kelly Holmes (Cheyenne River Lakota) and representatives of the Council of Fashion Designers of America and Ralph Lauren.

The designers had a variety of approaches, from street to science fiction to politics. Mohawk designer Scavenati placed colorful signs with messages such as “Resilience is Fertility” and “Water is Life” in the hands of models, while showing off her “Calico Camera” pieces, while others had little or no reference to traditional culture.

With so many differences, is an indigenous fashion show even relevant anymore?

“Well, we just got it,” said Jamie Okuma, who loaned her work to the Costume Institute’s “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion” exhibit to the original Native American designer and artist.

A member of the La Jolla Mission Indians group, she showcased beautiful silk dresses and robes in prints based on floral photographs she captured in northern San Diego County, a black and white ribbon skirt over a traditional Native American dress, and a cream organza pannier gown with ruffled sleeves and tonal floral embroidery on the red carpet. .

With the Fan Collectors Club, Okuma knows that if she wants to live in LA or New York, she can now grow her brand beyond a one-woman operation. But she prefers to keep it small and special.

“The Internet has kept me from moving, and it’s great to see my kids doing what they want from anywhere,” said the designer, who posted her creations for sale on her website.

What all runway designers have in common, however, is respect for the value of the earth and society, a sustainable approach to materials, local or small-batch production and development. Although local designers are still struggling to be seen, it’s all incredibly timely as part of the larger fashion industry conversation.

At the weekend market, which drew more than 150,000 visitors, their stalls were especially popular among young shoppers stocking up on skirts, hats and scarves.

“You can’t buy a $30,000 pot, but you can buy a $250 piece of cloth that’s traditionally decorated,” said Kim Peon, executive director of the American Indian Arts Association of the Southwest, which markets and fashions the Indian market. Help secure the next 100 years. “If we don’t follow that current position, we will lose a generation.”

Different approaches

On the runway, Dougie debuted his first menswear collection with high-waisted palazzo tuxedo pants, tuxedo shorts, knit sweaters and a hand-painted coat, nodding to gender fluidity.

Look closer, and one can see the influence of Dai’s creation story about two warrior twins gifted by the sun with lightning bolts and shields of stone to fight monsters on Earth. That includes archery illustrations, an armor-like diamond balloon pattern on the sweater, and a metallic embroidered sun on the back of a coat created in collaboration with Dean artist Ryan Singer.

“We didn’t want it to be so literal and meaningful that it would offend the non-native Navajo people,” said Dougie, who said he sourced the wool from local New Mexico sheep farms and used it for knitting and crocheting. All parts are made to order starting at $750.

In contrast, designer Lauren Goodday showcased a contemporary collection that looked like it would explode if it went on sale.

Colorful print bomber jackets, t-shirts and track pants, simple sundresses and mini- and maxi dresses in geometric, floral and rainbow-stripe prints are based on native ribbon dresses, field bead work and scrapbooks. They cost between $150 and $225 and sell well at Urban Outfitters or Free People stores.

“I like to take old pieces and more traditional work and turn them into modern clothing,” said Arikara Hidasa Blackfeet Plainscree of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota, explaining that traditional Native American ribbon dresses are used for ceremonial purposes. , are not safe for non-natives, are her graphic interpretations. “Anything I create on my website and sell and put on social media is for everyone else… I keep the original for myself.”

Taking a multi-generational approach, her costume designer Melanie LeBlanc and her jewelry designer “Aunt” Catherine Blackburn, who are of Dene and European descent, collaborated on a wearable art collection that featured dramatic bear jaw and deer antler headgear models.

“It was inspired by our grandmothers and we put together a community, to have other Native artists work with us, including cousins ​​and mothers, to make the scene happen,” said LeBlanc, who lives in British Columbia.

The path to representation

It was slow to gain recognition in the larger fashion community, especially in the US.

“The representation of Indigenous art is much broader in Canada than it is in the U.S.,” said Bear Robey, curator of the Airplane Show.

Over the weekend at Indian Market, die-hard designer/retailer Amy Dennett opened Dell 4Kinship, which she says is the first Native-owned fashion boutique in Santa Fe. Launched in 2015, featuring her own line of sustainable hand-dyed vintage and artistic garments, Taos-based handloom Indo-Hispanic designer Josh Tafoya and others.

“In 60 years, we’ve never received a nomination from the Council of Fashion Designers,” says Dale, a Reebok and Puma veteran. We can’t stop making a living until we get more kids into fashion. You know we’ve got all the riches of culture – it’s bursting out of us. But we don’t have a way into the industry.

As part of the CFDA’s Diversity and Inclusion Initiative, Executive Director Lisa Smear traveled to Santa Fe for a weekend of events, meeting with designers and educators to listen and learn.

“The collections and attitudes are focused on a strong, responsible and sustainable supply chain and strategic sales and distribution,” she said. “There is clearly a huge opportunity for the industry to work together to create meaningful and valuable support and opportunities to ensure we see greater representation of Indigenous design talent at all levels of the design ladder.”

In the year “That was great,” said Dougie, who showed at New York Style Fashion Week 2018. “We’re American and we’re designers, and I don’t know what we know and what we hate…it’s great.” The CFDA is looking into it, that’s a start. It makes me happy that they finally see that there isn’t one specific way of local fashion.

Also in town were 10 members of Ralph Lauren, the sponsor of the “Indigenous Fashion Art” exhibit that opened Friday at the museum at the American Institute of Indian Arts. Recognizing that Native Americans are the source of many of its inspirations and stories, the brand has been active in the Indian market for the past five years as part of its Native American and Indigenous community engagement program, connecting with aspiring talent. As artists in residence.

Hollywood opportunity

Lady Gaga’s stylist Nicola Formichetti was also on leave to visit with the pop star both nights after accidentally stumbling across an Indian market on a weekend trip. He also reached out to designers through Instagram for meetings.

“I came here to enjoy nature and history, and it turned into a magical two days of meeting local talent. I feel there’s something – I strongly believe – there’s something here,” said the emerging Plains Cree designer, who discovered it at a museum exhibit and was actually inspired by Lady Gaga to get into fashion. Jontay Kahm singled out the first place.

Kahm, who attended Marist College and is now a senior at IAIA, was accepted to Parsons School of Design but turned it down because there was no scholarship money. The futuristic designs are, naturally, Alexander McQueen, Iris Van Herpen and Nick Cave’s voice ideal.

Formichetti, wearing a blue bird costume made of 2,000 feathers with a face mask, “takes inspiration from the culture but takes it elsewhere, and for me that’s what makes it a fashion destination.” “Made for Gaga” brushes.

If she wears hers, it will be a full-circle moment for Kahm, 26, who sold five pieces for $1,000 to $4,000 each at a pop-up at the museum over the weekend. “It’s such a win for my communities, my heritage and my culture,” the designer said.

A blue bird dress is reserved for Gaga.