PBS News Hour | Fashion show spotlights work of Indigenous designers | Season 2024 | Montana PBS

AMNA NAWAZ: A first in the fashion world happened in Santa Fe, New Mexico recently, putting a burgeoning fashion sector on the map.

Special correspondent Megan Thompson had a front row seat for our arts and culture series, Canvas.

MEGAN THOMPSON: It was what you might expect of a high-end, standing-room-only fashion show, stunning clothing, booming music, and a decked-out crowd recording every minute on their phones.

But what made this runway show different, all the clothing was created by indigenous designers from the U.S. and Canada.

The event was put on by the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts, or SWAIA.

JAMIE SCHULZE, Executive Director, Southwestern Association for Indian Arts: SWAIA Native Fashion Week is the first indigenous fashion week held in the United States.

We have been very invisible or very minimal in some of these industries.

So we are creating a platform to highlight these voices in the world.

MEGAN THOMPSON: Over four days, designers, models, media, and more than 2,000 fashionistas and fans packed photo ops, pop-up shops and more; 17 designers presented at two different runway shows.

The original design of North America is based on indigenous art, technique, design, culture, everything.

AMBER-DAWN BEAR ROBE, Native Art Historian: We’re making history here.

MEGAN THOMPSON: Ten years ago, Amber-Dawn Bear Robe produced a single runway show for SWAIA during it’s annual Indigenous Art Market.

She says interest has grown so much, she had to create this much larger event.

But Bear Robe, a Native art historian, says what’s happening here isn’t necessarily new.

For thousands of years, indigenous people have been creating couture, fashion-speak for clothing that is custom-made.

AMBER-DAWN BEAR ROBE: You do not get more couture than hunting an animal, gutting and cleaning intestine to make this pristine, beautiful, exquisite material to make a one-of-a-kind gut skin garment.

MEGAN THOMPSON: Some designers put a modern spin on traditional materials like beads and feathers.

Canadian Helen Oro is Plains Cree from Pelican Lake First Nation.

HELEN ORO, Designer: One of the questions when I first started was, do you have to be indigenous to wear beadwork?

It’s for everyone.

MEGAN THOMPSON: For creators who don’t have brick-and-mortar stores, the event gave them a chance to sell directly to customers.

Orlando Dugi designs luxury women’s and men’s wear, all hand-made in his Santa Fe studio.

ORLANDO DUGI, Fashion Designer: The beading, I do all of that myself.

MEGAN THOMPSON: His work is inspired by the stars, which hold important spiritual and cultural meaning for the Navajo.

ORLANDO DUGI: How the stars show up in my work is through a lot of beading and embroidery, lots of sparkles.

And I chose evening wear because its usually worn at night under the stars.

MEGAN THOMPSON: Dugi’s new collection, which he’s planning to launch next year, is called Stargazer.

ORLANDO DUGI: It’s a crew in a ship traveling the galaxy.

I want to represent my culture, my heritage, but without being very literal in translation.

One of the challenges is my work not being Native enough for non-Native people and also Native people.

PATRICIA MICHAELS, Fashion Designer: There are expectations of what a Native designer should be, and I have run away from that concept my whole life.

Beautiful.

MEGAN THOMPSON: Taos Pueblo designer Patricia Michaels has been in the business for 40 years.

And she says she’s always dealt with ignorance and stereotypes, including in 2013, when she was the first Native American on the long-running hugely popular TV show “Project Runway,” where she made it all the way to the final.

PATRICIA MICHAELS: Being Taos Pueblo, living matter is important to us.

So, many of the imagery that I have on my hand-painted silks and different fabrications of my textiles are ideas that come from nature.

TANTOO CARDINAL, Actress: Amazing.

(APPLAUSE) MEGAN THOMPSON: Michaels recently made a dress for actor Tantoo Cardinal, who starred in the Oscar-nominated “Killers of the Flower Moon,” to wear to the Cannes Film Festival.

PATRICIA MICHAELS: I thought of an eagle headdress.

And that’s the biggest honor.

So I took it from the man’s head and I flipped it, and I put it at her core, and I wanted her to feel like she was in flight.

TANTOO CARDINAL: I remember when it was shameful to be wearing anything Indian.

And now to see what’s happened with our industry, oh, my God.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) MEGAN THOMPSON: But excitement and interest can lead to cultural appropriation, when non-Native designers profit from Native patterns and motifs without permission or acknowledgement.

Ralph Lauren came under fire in 2022 for using indigenous Mexican designs.

PESHAWN BREAD, Filmmaker and Model: And we’re working on getting Native people into every department.

MEGAN THOMPSON: Filmmaker and model Peshawn Bread has been working with Ralph Lauren to increase inclusivity.

Last year, the brand announced its first artist-in-residence, Navajo Weaver Naiomi Glasses, who has created two collections so far.

Bread, who is Comanche, Kiowa, And Cherokee, hopes fashion events like this will continue the progress.

PESHAWN BREAD: I really hope that this opens the fashion world’s eyes into our world, and successfully creates a bridge where we can collaborate with different brands or anything that we dream of as designers.

MEGAN THOMPSON: This is Bread’s first runway show as a designer.

Their collection is an ode to the 1970s, when federal law finally guaranteed Native Americans the right to religious freedom.

PESHAWN BREAD: It was such a politically charged time for indigenous people, for Native people around the country.

So I wanted to imagine, what if we weren’t always fighting?

What if we could have some joy?

What would we wear to the disco?

MEGAN THOMPSON: When Saturday’s runway show began, Bread’s were the first looks to come down the runway.

Seven more designers followed.

For many of the spectators, the show was about more than beautiful clothes.

WOMAN: It became very emotional.

WOMAN: I’m speechless.

WOMAN: This is history in the making.

MEGAN THOMPSON: Patricia Michaels’ designs ended the evening, her signature hand-dyed and painted garments receiving a standing ovation from a devoted crowd.

PATRICIA MICHAELS: I see how its evolved so that every Native tribe now can have their story told in a very modern, contemporary sense, without ridicule, but celebration.

MEGAN THOMPSON: For the “PBS News Hour,” I’m Megan Thompson in Santa Fe, New Mexico.