Latest news with #NativeFashionWeek
CBC
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Why did this outfit by a Blackfoot designer lead to controversy… and what does she think about it?
A Blackfoot designer says she was shocked when her latest collection received backlash online over sexualization of Indigenous women and inappropriate use of traditional medicines. Melrene Saloy-Eaglespeaker, a member of the Kainai (Blood Tribe) Nation in Alberta, said the collection, which was designed for Santa Fe's Native Fashion Week last month, was inspired by the healing she finds in design and creativity, as well as her respect for traditional medicines. "I just wanted to bring these two amazing elements together," she said. Saloy-Eaglespeaker, who grew up in Calgary, said she used sage, cedar and sweetgrass to create the collection. The clothes also featured leather, satin and black sheer elements — a fixture of her work. "I have always kind of used very out there, very contemporary [ways of] showcasing of the female form in many of my prior collections," she said, adding her work aims to reclaim Indigenous women's sexuality. Despite previous designs appearing at fashion shows in Milan and Paris, she said she's never experienced criticism like this before, although she knows that using traditional medicines "in a contemporary way can be shocking." Still, she said she was surprised that so much of the criticism said the model was sexualized due to the amount of skin that showed and that using sacred medicines in revealing clothing was wrong. Saloy-Eaglespeaker rejects that idea. "I would think that a woman's body would be the most sacred space to have these medicines," she said. Following Blackfoot teachings Before beginning her work, she said, she consulted with multiple family members and elders about the idea. She, along with other family members, harvested the medicines for the collection using protocols such as leaving tobacco and only taking what was needed. When negative reactions to the collection poured out online — commenters also accused her of vanity and behaving like an "unconnected" person — she was hurt. Saloy-Eaglespeaker said she believes the fact that she's biracial (her mother, who raised her, is Blackfoot and her father is Creole) and grew up in the city could be a factor in some people's reaction to her work. "Like because I am biracial, then I'm not Native enough to be able to use and do things with [medicines]," she said. Linda EagleSpeaker, Saloy-Eaglespeaker's maternal aunt, said she thought the idea was "amazing," and added that she's proud of all the work Saloy-Eaglespeaker has done in her career. "We never hold our children back to be creative, and to express themselves in a good way," said EagleSpeaker, who works as an elder involved with child welfare in Minnesota. "They don't know her, they don't know how she was raised, they don't know our family." She said that Saloy-Eaglespeaker consulted multiple elders and family members before beginning the collection in order to be respectful. She called criticism of her niece "pitiful" and said concerns over modesty and sexualization do not align with traditional values. "We didn't look upon ourselves as being naked from the waist up and we didn't look at ourselves as being sexualized… and we were honoured by our men, our people," EagleSpeaker said of past ways of dressing. The collection will not be for sale as Saloy-Eaglespeaker said she was taught that medicines are not to be sold. She said she took other steps to ensure she followed Blackfoot teachings throughout the entire process. "Prior to [fitting] each model, I made sure none were on their cycles because as Blackfoot women, we cannot smudge or be around medicines," Saloy-Eaglespeaker said. EagleSpeaker said she advised her niece to stand strong in the face of criticism and not respond to disrespect. "[Then] you make a circular motion and everything that they've said to you, you take it and you throw it over your back," she said. Collection well-received Amber-Dawn Bear Robe, a member of the Siksika Nation in southern Alberta who now lives in Santa Fe, organized Native Fashion Week where the medicine collection was first displayed. She said, as a Blackfoot woman herself, she never expected it to be controversial. "What I see is fear. What I see is uneducated, uninformed, knee jerk reactions," she said. Bear Robe said she thought the collection touched on the connection between the land and human bodies in a way that she found interesting. "From a curatorial perspective, I think that the pieces were brilliant," she said, adding the collection was well-received on the runway. She said she hopes the backlash doesn't lead designers away from taking risks, especially as Indigenous fashion theory is still in its infancy even if other art forms have been around, and appreciated, for decades. "I feel like we're going back 50 years when people are knocking Indigenous designers for celebrating women, men and non-binary people's bodies." Of the 30 designers at fashion week, this was not the collection Bear Robe expected to spark controversy. "I thought the one collection that was going to have a reaction was the blatant F--k Trump collection …. Instead it's sweetgrass? Give me a break," she said. Having worked in contemporary art for decades, Bear Robe said it's important for artists to be able to push boundaries. "Materials are used in different ways to explore artistic, creative expression, and that should not be dictated by others," she said. "It's an internalized racism and a white anthropological view on what Native art should be." Bear Robe added she hopes to be able to display the medicine collection again if Saloy-Eaglespeaker is willing.
Forbes
05-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
At Sante Fe's Native American Fashion Week, It's 'Not Just About Style, It's About Presence.'
Relative Arts NYC runway Tira Howard "Native people are still here. We always have been. But too often, this country acts like we're not. That erasure doesn't just happen in textbooks. It happens on runways, in museums, in the media and in fashion houses," says Amber Dawn, founder of Native Fashion Week. Though Indigenous practices, cultural values, and art have long been marginalized and forcibly distanced from the Western mainstream, the emergence of an Indigenous Fashion Week asserts its' presence, and keeps the culture very much alive. In Santa Fe, over the course of four days filled with fashion, panels, and parties, Native Fashion Week opened at the Santa Fe Railyard, a clever homage to Native peoples' complicated history with the railroad systems built throughout the 19th century. These tracks remain symbolic of colonization, territorial expansion, environmental devastation, and cultural erasure. During the event's opening, 'Runway on the Rails,' designers Nonamey and Ayimach Horizons previewed snippets of their collections aboard the Sky Railway during a two-hour ride into the desert. From this moment, it became clear: the clothes showcased throughout the week would be less about craftsmanship or spectacle, and more about storytelling and history. Runways to Rils Tira Howard "Native Fashion Week is not just about style. It's about presence. About pushing back on invisibility with creativity, excellence, and joy," says Amber Dawn. She continues, "Unlike the common theme in the US, which are featuring Indigenous designers in museums and making us out to exclusively be of times past, we're building a platform for the future. The exposure of modern Indigenous design is so important to this work." For Dawn, a feeling of erasure, even from runways, has happened for Indigenous culture. "Native Fashion Week Santa Fe is a reclamation of space. A space where Indigenous designers lead. And it's happening here in Santa Fe, a city that already holds a reputation for art, culture and storytelling," she says. "This is about bringing new eyes and new energy to Santa Fe. Fashion editors, buyers, stylists, celebrities, photographers, major industry figures from places like New York, LA, and beyond." One of the key figures and new eyes paying attention was CFDA CEO Steven Kolb. 'Coming to Native American Fashion Week has given me the chance to step into the community and get a sense of Indigenous culture and Native design,' Kolb said. While the CFDA currently has no plans to provide funding for Santa Fe's Native Fashion Week, Kolb emphasized, 'We can bring knowledge, advice, connections, and awareness, we want to create visibility for this within the greater fashion world.' Native American Fashion Week Tira Howard Outside of Warehouse 21, a large event space in Santa Fe, Korina Emmerich wrapped up her runway show, which featured large tassels, tribal prints, and earthy tones. 'This collection was called Seeds, and was based on the concept of 'they tried to bury us, but they didn't know we were seeds.'' She continues, 'I wanted to focus on reinvigoration and reclamation of Indigenous culture, I used orange a lot to bring attention to Orange Shirt Day and boarding schools. Every Native person knows someone who went to those boarding schools, so I wanted to bring attention to that.' Possibly the most memorable piece was a closing statement of rebellion: a dress made out of the Palestinian flag. 'I think it's important that we keep paying attention to what's happening in Palestine, in Gaza, as they keep blocking out the news. It's an act of genocide, and it's something we [Native people] have also gone through.' Native American DFashion Week Tira Howard Emmerich, who says she was 'working on her collection until the very last minute,' draws inspiration from her heritage: the Palouse people of Washington state. She credits her father, an art teacher, as her biggest inspiration, encouraging her to embrace both her Indigenous identity and creativity. 'The first dress I made was my jingle dress for my powwow regalia, and I think a lot about putting stories into the clothing. For me, it's about storytelling more than it is about commerce.' 'Growing up, we didn't see any Native fashion designers besides Dorothy Grant, so how did you know it's a possibility if you don't see it? But the recognition is phenomenal,' she says. 'We're so lucky that we have room for everyone.' Native American Fashion Week Tira Howard On the second day of Fashion Week, in the same event space, Nonamey, who originally premiered on the Skyrails train, debuted a larger collection aimed at telling a more fully realized story. 'The name of this collection is Threaded Lineage, and it's the story of my family,' he says. 'It's an Indigenous story—my story. It begins with the Ancestor Dress, a story about my grandmother and a relative of mine who was shot by police.' Midway through the show, Nonamey presented a blinding orange, structured jacket emblazoned with the words 'DON'T SHOOT' across the back. This piece, like others in the collection, serves as a kind of "connective tissue"—memories and histories that have either directly affected him or live on through his lineage. Nonamey, who is of the Anishinaabe people of Northern Wisconsin, tells a deeply personal story of his family's forced relocation, his time in the foster care system, and the loss of identity that came with it. That journey intensified after learning he had lost both his mother and grandmother. 'It was this loss I didn't know what to do with, so I started applying it to my art,' he says. Originally trained in sculpture, Nonamey ultimately discovered that the language of clothing spoke to him more. Throughout the collection, he presented pieces that followed traditional 18th-century European dress silhouettes, layered with tribal prints, a visual merging of histories and heritages that reflect both his identity and the complex, often painful relationship with Native ethnicity in a colonized world. "I am a result of colonial action, I am an attempt at cultural genocide, but by reconnecting I stepped further away from an edge and I feel that by creating art and sharing it, i'm decolonizing this industry." Nonamey for Native American Fashion Week Tira Howard That spirit carried throughout the week. While Indigenous traditional wear is far from a monolith, with many of the designers representing diverse tribes and regions across the Americas, the shared goal of representing their heritage across time and geography remained central. Acts of rebellion, fine tailoring, streetwear, tribal prints, traditional tassels and suedes, moccasins, and sustainable fashion approaches like fur and multi-use materials were all present on the runway. 'The industry needs to know more and invest in the original designers of America. There is not one way to define Native fashion arts; the diversity is beautiful and complex,' says Amber Dawn. 'We had over 25 nations represented among the 30 Indigenous designers this season at Native Fashion Week Santa Fe. Within each of those nations, there are specific designs, colors, and intentional symbolism. Our designers blend their personal fashion with these traditional motifs, creating a modern interpretation of Indigenous fashion that embodies such a personal journey for everyone.' Nonamey NAFW Tira Howard As the week came to a close, the audience was left with a powerful message from the creator of the programming: 'From the streetwear motifs to the use of furs, which are all sustainable and sourced from Indigenous farmers in Canada, the meaning behind what our designers do, and the incredible attention to detail and purpose, must be understood through context as we enter a global forum. ' She continues, 'That's where you begin to see the vast range of performances down the runway, from Apache Skateboards to Shoshoni's Nar Rew Ekar, which went viral on social media, to the protest staged by Alex from Scrd Thndr. There was so much beauty and so many different expressions of fashion to witness. That background information is essential as we scale our exposure. We can't wait to continue expanding next season with more symposia and auxiliary events to keep sharing our designers' stories and work.'
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Vogue
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Vogue
In Santa Fe, Native Fashion Week Was a Celebration of Community
This past weekend, you could easily spot flocks of stylish Indigenous folks parading across Santa Fe, New Mexico—all decked out in their finest gowns, dentalium shell necklaces, and beaded earrings. The occasion for such peacocking? Santa Fe Native Fashion Week, a jam-packed weekend presenting new contemporary collections from Indigenous designers across North America. With tentpole events such as SWAIA Native Fashion Week and Native Fashion Week Santa Fe taking over the entire city, well-clad crowds gathered to celebrate and witness the innovative new shows—all of which stemmed from an exciting mix of artists from various regions and tribes. While the Santa Fe Indian Market in August remains Santa Fe's main draw, its Native Fashion Week (now in its second year) is fast becoming a hot ticket, too. Over 50 Indigenous designers took part in the weekend, each one debuting avant-garde creations with a poignant cultural flair. While the aesthetics and sensibilities of the designers ranged drastically, a similar spirit united them all—one of maintaining traditional Indigenous stories, motifs, and craftwork techniques in thrilling new ways.
