by “It’s all starting to cross-pollinate down here,” said Amy Denet Deal, the brain behind the Indigenous Futures 4Ever fashion show held at the Santa Fe Railyard on Saturday night, where interim member Josh Tafoya CFDA and other South West performers and designers. The USA, Canada and Mexico were the best of the world movement of Native arts.
With a mix of runway, Native American hoop dancing, hip-hop and spoken word, the joyous event could offer a lesson or two for fashion show producers. The performers —Tia Wood, singing her single “Dirt Road” about being a Cree singer finding her way in LA; climate activist and hip-hop singer Xiuhtezcati Martinez rapping with “Reservation Dogs” composer Mato Wayuhi, and First Nations hip-hop group Snotty Nose Rez Kids performing new music – also seamlessly integrated into the runway show as models.
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The event was in the middle of the Southwest Association of American Indian Art’s 102nd Indian Market, held annually around the Plaza in Santa Fe, NM, which has its own long-established indigenous fashion show and runway event.
But Denet Deal, whose store 4Kinship is a platform for emerging Indigenous designers, wanted to create an alternative fashion festival and block party. Build Native was sponsored by Shopify and Pinterest, and all participants were paid honorariums.
“SWAIA will always be part of Santa Fe’s heritage, because they’ve been here 102 years, but there’s a lot of new things happening here. It’s almost turning into a South by Southwest vibe, and my events are based on that next generation,” said Denet Deal, who was adopted by a white family at birth and lived for years without being on the information about his Diné heritage. After finding out later in life, she pursued a career in corporate fashion to reconnect with her roots, opening 4Kinship to promote and sell Native fashion designers, and her own signature line of hand-upcycled military clothing. -dyed and vintage.
Multicultural identity was a central theme for the designers and performers who took part in Saturday’s event, including rising fashion star Tafoya.
The designer from Taos, NM, presented his second collection, inspired by his complex identity. “The collection is about my family’s history, and it’s dealing with the idea of Genizaro,” he said, referring to the name of the 17th- to 19th-century Native Americans in the Spanish colony of New Mexico. and in the neighboring regions of the American Southwest.
It started with a commercial, button-up look, like a chic striped mariner knit maxidress with a tie waist that could be worn as a long sleeve, and a striped denim shirt, before moving into more of a punk rock vibe with fraying cream woven biker jacket and cargo shorts with holes cut out of the front, and subtle flag-stripe slashed separates. Tafoya finished with a series of incredible sculptural ponchos made of woven layers with riotous overlapping patterns, feathers and fringes that should belong in a museum.
“It goes back to the Native Spanish slave trade when there was New Spain, then creating mixed blood, the transition when Mexico took over, and then the United States took over, and then the moment this is on recall,” Tafoya said of his history. “The collection started in a clean, more pre-colonial way…going into deconstruction, raw edge, folding, all these things that are like ‘what the fk is my culture?’ It’s such a dark history but the collection shows itself as a party, trying to reclaim our history, our identity, and our Native sense.”
Another message of the show was a cross-border alliance, as seen in the representation of Indigenous designers from the south (Mexico City-based Carla Fernández works with groups of artisans throughout Mexico to produce her stunning collections) and the north (a group of designers from Vancouver Fashion Week to show in Santa Fe). The gathering was a recognition of the impact of colonial borders on indigenous groups around the world.
Denet Deal brought Fernández’s work to the runway after seeing it at the Santa Fe International Art Market a few weeks ago. “She couldn’t come back to Santa Fe, so we sent it all in style. I’m talking to them about doing a fashion show for the IFA market as well. It’s growing,” she said of fashion.
“I hope more people do shows like this. It’s nice to break the wall and experiment a little,” said designer Alejandro Gutierrez, who grew up in Yucatan, Mexico. His Portland, Ore.-based Graziano and Gutierrez collection mixes textiles from Chiapas and Oaxaca with American workwear for their own kind of cross-cultural exchange.
From Vancouver, Canada, Snotty Nose Rez Kids singer Quinton “Yung Trybez” Nyce made his first collection of streetwear, with amazing wide leg leather and baggy denim shorts, zip-front jackets, “Stupid Idiot” T-shirts and skeleton-painted Doc Martens.
“We sold every piece,” he said. “I’ve never been to Santa Fe before, but it was a great experience. And I’m originally from Mexico so it felt good to be closer to home.”
There were Native fashion and jewelry pop-ups, food stands and skate displays throughout the weekend, as well as a Snotty Nose Rez Kids merchandise drop, which people came out to despite the blistering heat at the event at the Railyard.
Entrepreneurship is critical to Indigenous communities, said Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation member Kyle Brennan Shàwinipinesì, Shopify’s senior leader for Indigenous entrepreneurship, for sponsoring the event. He founded the Shopify Build Native platform in 2021, with a digital community resource and story space that includes around 2,000 members. The Build Native platform has helped build brands like Sister Sage’s body care line, from face-to-face sales to landing in chain stores.
“I couldn’t find statistics for the States, but in Canada, Indigenous people start businesses at six times the average rate of non-Indigenous people. This is partly because when you have been ignored or left out of the dominant economic systems for a long time, sometimes your only option is to go into business for yourself… Sometimes it starts people as craftsmen or artisans and then they understand ok, I could. make this my full-time thing, and there’s a huge international audience on the Internet for this.”
On Friday, 4Kinship and Shopify hosted a Native Fashion Summit, where a number of designers shared their different experiences as creatives and entrepreneurs, and thoughts on taking a broader view of Native design beyond obvious cultural references such as geometric patterns . Like the fashion show, it was streamed live so the kids could watch it all.
“Representing who I am and where I’m from gives meaning to what I do,” said Tlingit jewelry designer Jennifer Younger, who uses traditional formline design in her gorgeous modern pieces. “But if I’m selling something everyone has to wear it. I wouldn’t sell something related to a clan or a clan crest… That’s just my own personal way.”
It is not the same for everyone.
“My brand, Here’s to You, is not Native-specific, nor is it specific to one tribe,” said founder Hud Oberly, a native of Osage, Caddo, and Comanche background who lives in Brooklyn, where he makes streetwear inspired by the art. “It’s about connecting with today’s artists and convincing people that everyone is creative in some capacity.”
Evolution is a creative guiding force for others.
“We want to represent our cultural heritage, but we can’t forget to also represent ourselves and who we are now,” said designer Graziano and Gutierrez Alejandro Gutierrez at the symposium.
Sàwinipinesì Shopify agreed. “It’s important that we’re not just trying to recreate the past but that we’re pushing it forward and allowing it to evolve and change over time. That’s what living culture is.”
Launch Gallery: 4KINSHIP Indigenous Futures 4EVER Runway Show
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