Sandra Hale Schulman
Special to ICT
A surge in Native fashion is ramping up runway events at Santa Fe Indian Market, with more than a dozen Indigenous designers participating this year in some of the storied market’s biggest events.
Santa Fe Indian Market has already become ground zero for the convergence of fashion design, art, artists, actors and musicians, who play off each other’s talents during the weeklong event, which attracts more than 100,000 people.
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This year’s market follows a recent announcement by the Southwestern Association for American Indian Arts that a first-ever SWAIA Native Fashion Week in the U.S. will launch in Spring 2024, and on an Instagram channel at @swaianativefashion.
After 10 years of producing and curating Indigenous fashion shows and exhibitions for SWAIA and multiple international institutions, curator and art historian Amber-Dawn Bear Robe, Siksika Nation, said launching the Indigenous showcase is a fashion dream come true.
“SWAIA’s Indigenous Fashion Show began in 2014 with no budget, a U-Haul to transport models to the outside runway location and a DJ with a microphone,” Bear Robe told ICT.
“To have the support of both SWAIA and the City of Santa Fe is immense. We plan to create the fashion hub for and to represent the diversity of Indigenous designers from the United States and Canada on a national platform.”
‘Biggest night out’
The official showcase of this year’s Indian Market — the SWAIA Gala — on Saturday, Aug. 19, is considered the event’s “biggest night out” and also serves as a fundraiser.
The event features an Indigenous Gala Fashion Show with seven designers and a live art auction. The designers are Tracy Toulouse, Anishnaabe; Rebecca Baker-Grenier, Kwakiuł; Jason Baerg, Métis; Elias Not Afraid, Apsaalooké; Clara McConnell, Inupiaq; and Patricia Michaels, Taos Pueblo.
On Sunday, Aug. 20, at the Santa Fe Convention Center, an afternoon blowout will host new Council of Fashion Designers of America member Jamie Okuma, Luiseño; Orlando Dugi, Diné; Pam Baker, Squamish; Dusty LeGrande, Nehiyaw/Woodland Cree; Jontay Kahm, Plains Cree; Lauren Good Day, Arikara, Hidatsa; and Jason Baerg, Métis.
The sold-out events have become so popular that the plans for expansion are underway for next year’s inaugural event, set to be held May 2-5, 2024.
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The 101-year old organization produces the market held each August, and the new event will continue the momentum started by the Indigenous Fashion Show that has been produced for the past decade during market week.
The SWAIA Indigenous Fashion Week next year will begin with an Indigenous fashion symposium and launch celebration on Thursday, May 2, 2024. The four-day event will feature a soirée and several days of runway shows showcasing the talent of Indigenous designers across North America.
Sky-Eagle Collection soars at Bishop’s Lodge
Independent designer Dante Biss-Grayson, Osage, threw his own runway party last year at the La Fonda Hotel. Sold out for two nights, he celebrates his cultural heritage through bold, innovative designs. Biss-Grayson is also an artist who will be featured in the upcoming “Killers of the Flower Moon” film.
This year, he will be hosting a weekend of fashion, art, beauty and poetry at Bishop’s Lodge that is inclusive for men and women of all shapes and sizes to join and be inspired.
On Aug. 18-20, there will be a pop-up shop with Indigenous makeup company Prados Beauty and Sky-Eagle Collection. The fashion show on Friday, Aug. 18, will feature limited-edition pieces from the Sky-Eagle Collection and from Roanhorse Designs by Addie Roanhorse, Osage. A panel discussion of Native entrepreneurs hosted by “Yahoo! In the Know” is set for Saturday, Aug. 19, then on Sunday, Aug. 20, is a limited edition launch of the Sky-Eagle’s resort collection.
Asked how it feels to be in such a creative whirlwind, Biss-Grayson told ICT by Zoom that it’s been “a good ride, a good journey.”
“Just happy to find my groove and the design renaissance I’m in,” he said. “A lot has occurred and a lot’s going to happen.“
He said the Bishop’s Lodge events came about when Angelica Palladino, the general manager of Bishop’s Lodge, was trying to get into the show in Santa Fe last year but it was full. She was upset, because afterward she said, ‘Everyone was talking about it.”
Biss-Grayson said he was familiar with Bishop’s Lodge because when he worked with his step-father, the late artist Earl Biss, they would stay at Bishop’s Lodge. Palladino visited his shop in Taos, New Mexico, to plan the event.
“It had a meaning to me,” he said. “And then the vision came about doing a three-day retrospective, a history of Sky-Eagle, branch out into avant-garde, push the envelope with mixing the art, the music, the poetry, and the fashion. The second day is going to be panels for small Indigenous entrepreneurs hosted by Yahoo to showcase different people in Indian Country who are doing great things.”
He said the events will include Prado’s Beauty, along with fashion designers and others.
“It’s a mix, a conversation,” he said. “Then the third day is a launch of the resort collection, fashion in its element by the pool and the property that is so amazing. We’re already planning for next year for a show at the base of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.”
He said he’s ready to help others rise up in the fashion world.
“I’m branching out into fashion show production and want to start a venture where I’m helping younger brands develop,” he said. “Amazon reached out to me for ramping up the business, a special pilot program for Indigenous small business owners that’ll be launching soon.”
Alyssa Alexander, area director of marketing for Bishop’s Lodge, told ICT that the lodge works closely with others for the events.
“We partner with a number of local makers, creatives, artists on events, dinners, exhibitions throughout the year,” Alexander told ICT. “Dante is so incredibly creative and such a visionary. I love how he put so much importance on supporting his community and we feel like our values are really aligned there.”
Biss-Grayson will be seen on the big screen in October in period Osage regalia in the film, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” directed by Martin Scorsese. He was an artistic consultant and plays an artist in the film. He is allowed to talk about it, as he is not a member of the Screen Actors Guild, whose members are on strike along with those from the Writers Guild of America.
“Uncle Marty Scorsese, he flew me and my sister out to Manhattan, we saw a private screening and then I did a runway show in France and then the Cannes Film Festival was amazing,” he said. “I’m really honored because I’m a relative, a direct descendant of Henry Rohn, one of the Reign of Terror victims. It’s a powerful piece, they did it in the right way.”
Native-owned store 4KINSHIP
Another designer featured this year is Amy Denet Deal, Diné, who reclaims her cultural heritage through her unique fashion line, 4KINSHIP, which is also the name of her Santa Fe retail shop.
In addition to her design work, Deal is the stylist for singer/songwriter Jewel. They work together raising millions for youth programs on the Navajo Nation and to support Native artists and creators.
During Indian Market, Deal will be hosting a fashion experience at the 4KINSHIP store on Aug. 19, that will feature Native designers. It will include the unveiling of Council of Fashion Designers of America member Joshua Tafoya’s third collection, Native American models, and other artists showcasing the Navajo culture and artist community as well as food from James Beard Award-winning chef, Johnny Santiago Adao Ortiz-Concha.
Native Guitars and fashion at Meow Wolf
Stepping into the multiverse of Native Music, Art & Fashion is the Native Guitars Tour, which gets in on the fashion action with an NGT Fashion Collab with Peshawn Bread, Comanche/Cherokee, who will curate and direct the fashion segment at Meow Wolf Santa Fe on Thursday, Aug. 17.
NGT performers will appear on four stages. More than a dozen talented Native art vendors will be tucked throughout the space for an interactive experience, where guests become part of the show.
Curating the fashion shows will be Bread, a filmmaker and fashion creative. She has extensive experience as a model, show curator and upbringing in the Native arts community — her mother is “Prey” producer Jhane Myers. She has been a Sundance Film Festival alumna, worked with Disney+ and Amazon Studios, has served as Teton Cloth’s creative director, consulted with Ralph Lauren, and also done other creative directing for other fashion brands.
“This is an interactive experience that is going to have music as well as fashion at the same time,” Peshawn told ICT by phone from Santa Fe. “There’s also going to be an art setup for people to participate while also buying from different vendors. A whole evening of fun and supporting Native businesses and artists.”
Some of the vendors are the clothing brand NSRGNTS and Prados Beauty. Performers include Suga Baby, the Osceola Brothers, Dear Project and Jacob Shaheh.
“The fashion will be live modeling with models coming out per song with the bands. So we’re collaborating the bands with the designers, and this is all within Meow Wolf,” Bread said. “I feel like this is the space to be, because you can see a lot of people and collaborators all at once. This is definitely the spot. It kicks off market weekend on a Thursday.”
Bread will be taking her inspiration from designer Spanto. She modeled his sold out Levi’s Born X Raised collection just weeks before he died in a car accident.
“I am just thinking about his legacy and everything that he had done,” Bread said. “I just miss him so much. He had connection to community in all he did, and that’s so inspiring to me.”
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