NEW YORK – New York City’s Fashion Week, held Feb. 13 – Feb. 20, featured a preview of fall fashions from American and international fashion houses with such well-known names as DKNY, Diane Von Furstenberg, Calvin Klein, Dennis Basso, Carolina Herrera and Ralph Lauren. This year, RAMSCALE opened its West Village loft to three American Indian fashion designers: Virgil Ortiz, a potter and fashion artist from Cochiti Pueblo, N.M.; Patricia Michaels, a clothing designer from Taos Pueblo and Dorothy Grant, a Haida from Ketchikan Alaska who currently operates her company from Vancouver, British Columbia.
A reception Feb. 17 at RAMSCALE introduced the fashion public to the artists and their clothing and accessories. Gail Bruce, a founding member of the American Indian College Fund, along with her husband, Murray Bruce and Michael Chapman, a former chairman of the Menominee Nation of Wisconsin, hosted the event.
Fashion week has in the past featured American Indian clothing designed by non-Natives. In 2005, Alvin Valley began his collection with a reading of Dee Brown’s “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.” His collection featured western clothing with many feather jackets and skirts.
Grant, who works from a 2,500 square foot studio in Vancouver, said she wanted to present her Native designs of Haida appliqué work in a way that honored her tribal traditions. Her works are couture with Haida designs used in fashions of classic elegance such as evening wear, dress jackets and silk blouses. Her works are in several museums. The Natural History Museum NYC has her Raven Chilkat Robe. She received the design award from the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in 2008.
Michaels emphasized natural materials in her designs from bamboo and soy fabric to silk hemp. She apprenticed herself to the Santa Fe Opera where she saw the importance of designing clothes that moved with the body. She studied fashion design at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She had access to the largest collection of Native American textiles at the Field Museum’s Anthropology Department where she also worked as a research scholar. She lived in Venice, Italy where she worked with an Italian tailor to learn sophisticated ways to construct garments. Her designs feature themes from Taos heritage such as a dragon fly dress of hand-painted silk. Another dress has images of Native girls from Hopi, Sioux and Apache tribes.
Michaels sees endless possibilities of incorporating her tribal stories and symbols into design collections. Her logo includes her name and the water lily symbol which is her Native name.
Ortiz came from a family of potters. He continues to make pottery because he loves the medium; but he has extended into the world of fashion design. His company, Indigene, features clothing and luxury handbags and accessories. He showed his most recent collection of white cashmere sweaters with graphic designs portraying characters from a movie project called “Revolt.” The movie will focus on the 1680 revolt of the Pueblos against the Spanish. A female character, a blind archer, is portrayed on some of his clothing and pottery. He incorporates the Pueblo cross symbol, the turkey tracks and pottery designs into many of his clothing and handbags. His fashions are in shops in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Miami and Scottsdale.
In every respect, these three Native American design artists show creativity, respect for their culture and a savvy spirit of entrepreneurship.