As Native American designers and creations take root in the fashion world, a lot more goes into the art than what is shown on the runway.
Native American artists and designers partnered with Ralph Lauren, Pharrell Williams and Louis Vuitton at last year’s Paris Fashion Week.
The occasion marked milestones and shined a global spotlight on Indigenous artists.
For Indigenous creators, their craft is more than simple art. The ladies gathered in Sisseton in May said it’s finding out who they are at their core.
Kyrie Dunkley, an Indigenous fashion designer whose work is showcased annually at the All My Relatives show at Levitt at the Falls, said when trying to craft something like a ribbon skirt, a lot of thought goes into the product.
“For me I’m choosing, well who made that? Like who made that fabric?" Dunkley said. Where’d it come from? Did I get it from another Indigenous supplier?”
After that, she said it means diving into you.
“I guess there’s a lot of mindfulness about what colors you’re picking, what fabric you’re choosing, how it makes you feel. I know that when I have a certain ribbon skirt on it’s either for a Saturday Night Live powwow event, or it’s for an honoring, or a graduation, or maybe even a baby shower," Dunkley said. "You know, it’s going to give you a different feeling. Just putting it on kinda just makes you feel more connected to who you are and just grounded.”
Ella Robertson is a Native artist who specializes in bead work. She agreed with Dunkley, saying creating is a spiritual experience. Robertson said what she does goes past simply crafting beautiful items, it’s also about healing.
“So much injustice. It’s difficult to live with. And I feel like what we do, is like an outlet for those feelings,” Robertson said. “You can feel good about creating something. Put yourself in a good head space, what while you’re beading, what while you’re sewing, or”
Denise Hill, sewer and owner of Family Affair the fabric store the women are gathered at, jumped in.
“Yeah, because we know that well, if you sit down, start sewing and everything, you cannot be all chancy about something. You know, angry sitting there sewing — you have to be in the right mindset,” Hill said.
She explained that mindset.
“That is a prayerful thing that you’re doing. You’re creating. To create something is a prayer, I think. When you get done with it, and then, like when I give that blanket to somebody or somebody buys that quilt, and they say ‘Oh my gosh, when I sit down after supper and I just cover up with that I just feel so good,” Hill said. “I say, ‘Oh my God, that’s all love. That’s all love, and that’s all prayer. And I just wish that whoever is going to be using this feels that.”
Unfortunately, it’s not all beautiful.
“That’s a double-edged sword right? Yeah, it’s cool to see Native crafts and Native designs on the walkway, on the runway,” Scott German, the tribal chairman's legislative aide for the reservation, said. “But you also get cultural appropriation that goes hand-in-hand with that.”
He said the internet is a “great friend, but it comes with a cost.”
“Was that clothing designer really inspired? Or did you just take something off of streetstyle and you adapted it and you put your twist on it and then you ran it out there at $1,500 a pair?” German asked. “I mean so those are things that, yeah it’s cool, but I mean it does come at some potential risk and cost as well. And we need to be mindful of that.”
He shared a story of one Native woman who suffered from such a thing.
“You had a Native artist who was a beader, and she had a pair of beaded earrings that she had sold to somebody. And then they shipped them over seas and started knocking them off. Her hand-beaded earrings are $50 a pair," German said. "I buy them from Temu, $10 a pair. And they’re able say Native-designed. Yeah, they can say Native-designed, but they’re not Native-made.”
Kyrie Dunkley said she shares the concerns but has a different view on the issue.
“I’m a big believer that what you put out is like an essence of who you are,” Dunkley said.
She said she believes somebody is going to choose to buy from her, because they know the product came from her.
This year’s All My Relatives fashion show is Aug. 23 at Levitt at the Falls in downtown Sioux Falls.
