logo
Indigenous fashion week in Santa Fe, New Mexico, explores heritage in silk and hides

Indigenous fashion week in Santa Fe, New Mexico, explores heritage in silk and hides

Independent09-05-2025

Fashion designers from across North America are bringing inspiration from their Indigenous heritage, culture and everyday lives to three days of runway modeling starting Friday in a leading creative hub and marketplace for Indigenous art.
A fashion show affiliated with the century-old Santa Fe Indian Market is collaborating this year with a counterpart from Vancouver, Canada, in a spirit of Indigenous solidarity and artistic freedom. A second, independent runway show at a rail yard district in the city has nearly doubled the bustle of models, makeup and final fittings.
Three days of runway shows set to music will have models that include professionals and family, dancers and Indigenous celebrities from TV and the political sphere.
Clothing and accessories rely on materials ranging from of silk to animal hides, featuring traditional beadwork, ribbons and jewelry with some contemporary twists that include digitally rendered designs and urban Native American streetwear from Phoenix.
'Native fashion, it's telling a story about our understanding of who we are individually and then within our communities,' said Taos Pueblo fashion designer Patricia Michaels, of 'Project Runway' reality TV fame. 'You're getting designers from North America that are here to express a lot of what inspires them from their own heritage and culture.'
Santa Fe style
The stand-alone spring fashion week for Indigenous design is a recent outgrowth of haute couture at the summer Santa Fe Indian Market, where teeming crowds flock to outdoor displays by individual sculptors, potters, jewelers and painters.
Designer Sage Mountainflower remembers playing in the streets at Indian Market as a child in the 1980s while her artist parents sold paintings and beadwork. She forged a different career in environmental administration, but the world of high fashion called to her as she sewed tribal regalia for her children at home and, eventually, brought international recognition.
At age 50, Mountainflower on Friday is presenting her 'Taandi' collection — the Tewa word for 'Spring' — grounded in satin and chiffon fabric that includes embroidery patterns that invoke her personal and family heritage at the Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo in the Upper Rio Grande Valley.
'I pay attention to trends, but a lot of it's just what I like,' said Mountainflower, who also traces her heritage to Taos Pueblo and the Navajo Nation. 'This year it's actually just looking at springtime and how it's evolving. … It's going to be a colorful collection."
More than 20 designers are presenting at the invitation of the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts.
Fashion plays a prominent part in Santa Fe's renowned arts ecosystem, with Native American vendors each day selling jewelry in the central plaza, while the Institute for American Indian Arts delivers fashion-related college degrees in May.
This week, a gala at the New Mexico governor's mansion welcomed fashion designers to town, along with social mixers at local galleries and bookstores and plans for pop-up fashion stores to sell clothes fresh off the fashion runway.
International vision
A full-scale collaboration with Vancouver Indigenous Fashion Week is bringing a northern, First Nations flair to the gathering this year with many designers crossing into the U.S. from Canada.
Secwépemc artist and fashion designer Randi Nelson traveled to Santa Fe from the city of Whitehorse in the Canadian Yukon to present collections forged from fur and traditionally cured hides — she uses primarily elk and caribou. The leather is tanned by hand without chemicals using inherited techniques and tools.
'We're all so different,' said Nelson, a member of the Bonaparte/St'uxwtéws First Nation who started her career in jewelry assembled from quills, shells and beads. 'There's not one pan-Indigenous theme or pan-Indigenous look. We're all taking from our individual nations, our individual teachings, the things from our family, but then also recreating them in a new and modern way.'
Urban Indian couture
Phoenix-based jeweler and designer Jeremy Donavan Arviso said the runway shows in Santa Fe are attempting to break out of the strictly Southwest fashion mold and become a global venue for Native design and collaboration. A panel discussion Thursday dwelled on the threat of new tariffs and prices for fashion supplies — and tensions between disposable fast fashion and Indigenous ideals.
Arviso is bringing a street-smart aesthetic to two shows at the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts runway and a warehouse venue organized by Amber-Dawn Bear Robe, from the Siksika Nation.
'My work is definitely contemporary, I don't choose a whole lot of ceremonial or ancestral practices in my work,' said Arviso, who is Diné, Hopi, Akimel O'odham and Tohono O'odham, and grew up in Phoenix. 'I didn't grow up like that. … I grew up on the streets.'
Arviso said his approach to fashion resembles music sampling by early rap musicians as he draws on themes from major fashion brands and elements of his own tribal cultures. He invited Toronto-based ballet dancer Madison Noon for a 'beautiful and biting' performance to introduce his collection titled Vision Quest.
Santa Fe runway models will include former U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland of Laguna Pueblo, adorned with clothing from Michaels and jewelry by Zuni Pueblo silversmith Veronica Poblano.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Les Miserables actors drop out because Trump is attending show
Les Miserables actors drop out because Trump is attending show

The Independent

timean hour ago

  • The Independent

Les Miserables actors drop out because Trump is attending show

President Trump and Vice President Vance, along with their wives, will attend a performance of Les Misérables at the Kennedy Center, marking Trump 's first visit to the venue during his second term. Trump 's decision to assume control of the Kennedy Center, replacing previous leadership and vowing to eliminate 'woke' programming, has sparked controversy. In response to Trump 's involvement, some cast members of Les Misérables are expected to boycott the performance. Following Trump 's takeover, several high-profile performers and members resigned, and the center has experienced a significant drop in ticket sales, leading to canceled performances. Trump has expressed his fondness for Les Misérables, even suggesting the possibility of extending its run at the Kennedy Center, which is currently scheduled through July 13.

Brian Wilson's touching love story with wife Melinda: How the late Beach Boys singer met his 'savior'
Brian Wilson's touching love story with wife Melinda: How the late Beach Boys singer met his 'savior'

Daily Mail​

timean hour ago

  • Daily Mail​

Brian Wilson's touching love story with wife Melinda: How the late Beach Boys singer met his 'savior'

The late Brian Wilson and his wife Melinda Ledbetter had a powerful love story that all began in 1986 at a car dealership. While the couple split three years into their romance as a result of the Beach Boy singer's therapist and then-legal guardian Dr. Eugene Levy, they eventually wed and started a family together. They remained married until Ledbetter's death in January 2024. Just over a year later, on Wednesday, Wilson's children announced his passing at age 82. The couple's inspiring romance even was the subject of the 2015 biopic, Love & Mercy, which starred John Cusack as Brian and Elizabeth Banks as Melinda. 'I remember meeting her at her dealership, Cadillac, and I said, "God, she's a pretty girl,"' Wilson told ABC News during a joint interview with his wife in 2015. 'I just said to myself, "God, I think I'll see her again sometime.' 'That's what attracted me to him,' Ledbetter said. 'He was so nice.' The sale was the fastest Ledbetter had ever conducted, according to Rolling Stone. 'And he bought the ugliest car,' she said with a giggle during a 1999 interview with the magazine with her husband 'Honey, I always thought that was an ugly Seville, that color brown.' 'I liked it,' her husband insisted. At the time, Landy wielded heavy influence over Wilson's life. But Ledbetter was key in assisting Wilson in extricating Landy from his life. Landy, who died in 2006, was barred from any contact with the Beach Boys artist in 1992, a year after Wilson's relatives sued Landy and said that he had 'undue influence' over the musical artist. Landy was the one to call Ledbetter to arrange their first date. His life was pretty choreographed,' she said. 'But I just thought Brian was, like, the sweetest guy I had ever met. I thought, 'I gotta go see what this is all about.' They were together for three years until Landy intervened and ended the romance. 'He was overmedicating Wilson and doing a lot of things that doctors shouldn't do,' Ledbetter recalled to the publication. 'I was questioning things, and that pissed him off. But I had seen something that was so wrong — it was like someone taking a child and abusing them, and none of the neighbors wanted to know about it.' Three years later, after the law intervened to remove Landy from his life, that they reunited. 'I was driving down Pico Boulevard one day and I nearly ran over him,' she recalled of their fateful 1992 reunion. 'He had gone across the street from his studio to sneak a cigarette and I almost hit him, so I stopped and we just started to see each other again. It was like fate.' The relationship between Wilson and Ledbetter was chronicled in a 2014 biopic film titled Love & Mercy. The motion picture examined the Beach Boys singer's past battles with mental illness; and his controversial dealings with his late therapist. Ledbetter said in a 2004 appearance on Larry King that Wilson was largely estranged from his friends, family and colleagues when she met him in the 1980s during his time under Landy's care. She said of Landy, 'He was called into help and I think originally he did help. He helped Brian lose weight. He helped Brian care about himself physically again. 'As time went on, he became very captive of Brian. Brian was primarily a prisoner.' Ledbetter in May of 1998 spoke with The Chicago Tribune about Wilson rebuilding his life after parting ways with Landy, as well as the problematic upbringing he endured. 'He came from an incredibly dysfunctional family,' Ledbetter said. 'His father was abusive, his father was abused. And Brian should have been an abuser too. Instead, Brian just withdrew. He was never involved with his kids.' Ledbetter continued: 'Now, although music is still extremely important to him, he's learned that there's love, family. I just wonder what the music would have been like if he had this sooner, what he could have done if he had a supportive, loving family around him all along.' During their marriage, Brian and Melinda adopted five children together - Dakota Rose, Daria Rose, Delanie Rose, Dylan and Dash. The singer also has daughters Carnie, 57, and Wendy, 55, from his first marriage to Marilyn Rovell. Last year, weeks after the death of Melinda, it emerged that Brian had been diagnosed with a neurocognitive disorder similar to dementia. His children announced their father's death on the singer's official Instagram page this Wednesday, alongside what appeared to be a recent photo. 'We are heartbroken to announce that our beloved father Brian Wilson has passed away. We are at a loss for words right now,' they wrote. 'Please respect our privacy at this time as our family is grieving. We realize that we are sharing our grief with the world. Love & Mercy.'

BREAKING NEWS Beach Boys 'genius' Brian Wilson honored by fellow stars as tributes pour in following his death aged 82
BREAKING NEWS Beach Boys 'genius' Brian Wilson honored by fellow stars as tributes pour in following his death aged 82

Daily Mail​

timean hour ago

  • Daily Mail​

BREAKING NEWS Beach Boys 'genius' Brian Wilson honored by fellow stars as tributes pour in following his death aged 82

Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson was hailed by his fellow stars as tributes poured in following the legendary musician's death aged 82. The God Only Knows hitmaker shot to fame as the frontman of the Beach Boys, for which he served as the principal songwriter as well as the co-lead vocalist. Last year, weeks after the death of his longtime wife Melinda, it emerged that he had been diagnosed with a neurocognitive disorder similar to dementia. When news of his death broke Wednesday, his fans leapt to social media to share their grief, including Elton John, who shared a throwback photo of them together. 'Brian Wilson was always so kind to me from the day I met him. He sang 'Someone Saved My Life Tonight' at a tribute concert in 2003, and it was an extraordinary moment for me. I played on his solo records, he sang on my album, The Union, and even performed for my AIDS Foundation,' remembered John. 'I grew to love him as a person, and for me, he was the biggest influence on my songwriting ever; he was a musical genius and revolutionary. He changed the goalposts when it came to writing songs and shaped music forever. A true giant.' 'Anyone with a musical bone in their body must be grateful for Brian Wilson's genius magical touch !!' wrote Fleetwood Mac legend Mick Fleetwood. 'And greatly saddened of this major worldly loss!! My thoughts go out to his family and friends Mick Fleetwood and the Fleetwood Mac Family.' Fleetwood was just one of a number of boldface names to fondly remember Wilson, including Sean Ono Lennon, the son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono. 'Anyone who really knows me knows how heart broken I am about Brian Wilson passing. Not many people influenced me as much as he did,' wrote Lennon. 'I feel very lucky that I was able to meet him and spend some time with him. He was always very kind and generous. He was our American Mozart. A one of a kind genius from another world,' he added. Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones added his voice to the choir, tweeting: 'Oh no Brian Wilson and Sly Stone in one week ~ my world is in mourning so sad xx.' Wilson's survivors include his daughters Carnie, 57, and Wendy, 55, whom he had with his first wife Marilyn, as well as the five children he adopted with Melinda, who are called Dakota Rose, Daria Rose, Delanie Rose, Dylan and Dash. His children announced Wilson's death on the singer's official Instagram page this Wednesday, alongside what appeared to be a recent photo. 'We are heartbroken to announce that our beloved father Brian Wilson has passed away. We are at a loss for words right now,' they wrote. 'Please respect our privacy at this time as our family is grieving. We realize that we are sharing our grief with the world. Love & Mercy.' Wilson formed the Beach Boys in 1961 with his brothers Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love and their friend Al Jardine Wilson formed the Beach Boys in 1961 with his brothers Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love and their friend Al Jardine. The original name of the band was the Pendletones, and they exploded onto the scene with their 1961 song Surfin', written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love. Over the course of the 1960s the group became one of the most beloved in America, releasing albums like Surfin' Safari, Surfin' U.S.A. and Surfer Girl. Their 1966 hit God Only Knows was branded 'the greatest song ever written' by Beatles legend Paul McCartney. Along with their pioneering musical style, the band also conjured up an intoxicating image of a carefree California lifestyle of sunshine, palm trees, blue jeans and sea air. However Wilson's involvement with the Beach Boys shifted dramatically when he suffered a nervous breakdown in 1964, followed by two more in the next couple of years. He promptly withdrew from touring but retained his backstage control of the band as a writer and producer, masterminding their 1966 magnum opus Pet Sounds and providing lead vocals on many of the tracks. Pet Sounds struggled commercially at first, but ultimately earned a reputation as one of the most acclaimed pop or rock albums ever created. Paul McCartney has cited Pet Sounds as a particularly profound influence on him, one that spurred him to write more experimentally for the Beatles, leading to their own seminal album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. 'First of all, it was Brian's writing,' said McCartney in 1990. 'I love the album so much. I've just bought my kids each a copy of it for their education in life - I figure no one is educated musically 'til they've heard that album. I was into the writing and the songs.' Wilson plunged into heavy drug use during the 1960s, including LSD, and the combination of his mounting substance problem and psychological issues contributed to his increasing retreat from public life. One of his symptoms was paranoid delusions, and he continued hearing voices in his head during the last decades of his life. On the other hand, the psychedelics also served as creative fuel, with Wilson reportedly composing the music for one of the Beach Boys' most enduring singles, the 1966 release Good Vibrations, while tripping on LSD. Pet Sounds, with its groundbreaking songs like God Only Knows and I Know There's An Answer, was also influenced by his experience with mind-altering substances. By the mid-1970s, his drug use had expanded to include heroin and he became a recluse as his first marriage to singer Marilyn Rovell gradually crumbled. With the help of therapy, however, he returned to the spotlight in 1976, touring with the Beach Boys again as the band's slogan trumpeted: 'Brian's Back!' He slipped in and out of overeating and drugs, with repeated stints out of the public eye punctuated by triumphant comebacks. By the 1990s, he was locked in feuds with a variety of his old collaborators over a string of issues including unpaid royalties and alleged defamation of them in his memoirs, which also prompted a lawsuit from his own mother. He had begun embarking on a solo career in the 1980s, and continued through the 1990s amid his widening estrangement from the other Beach Boys. However, by 2006, he and Al Jardine toured jointly for the 40th anniversary of Pet Sounds and by 2012, the latest iteration of the Beach Boys - now including Wilson again - was back together for a 50th anniversary reunion tour. That year, the Beach Boys also released their final studio album, That's Why God Made the Radio, which Wilson produced to galloping commercial success. Melinda, his second and final wife, married Wilson in 1995, and he credited her as his 'savior' in his devastated statement on her death last year. The couple gave a joint interview a decade ago in which Wilson confessed that he was still plagued by auditory hallucinations. 'I have voices in my head,' he explained to Salon alongside his wife in 2015. 'Mostly it's derogatory. Some of it's cheerful. Most of it isn't.' Last February, shortly after Melinda's death, Wilson's family filed to obtain a conservatorship of him, announcing his diagnosis with a dementia-like condition. They said he often made 'spontaneous irrelevant or incoherent utterances,' had a 'very short attention span and while unintentionally disruptive, is frequently unable to maintain decorum appropriate to the situation,' in documents obtained by The Blast. Melinda, the family argued, had been attending to Wilson's 'daily living needs' and her absence had left him 'unable to properly provide for his own personal needs for physical health, food, clothing, or shelter.' The last time Wilson was seen in public was April 2024, when he emerged looking frail in a wheelchair to attend a Los Angeles Lakers game.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store