Top 10 Native Appropriations in Fashion for 2011

It's that time of year! When everyone posts their Top 10 of 2011 Lists, and here is my list of the top Native appropriations in fashion for 2011 (take THAT, Los Angeles Times!):

10. Forever 21's Cheap Knock-Offs: We can always count on Forever 21 to give us some great cheap options for any fashion trend. I even make my students go to F21 as part of a Tribal Trend Scavenger Hunt assignment. They never fail to bring in stellar images of some wacky fringed and feathered bodily ruckus.

9. Suzy Menkes and the S-Word: Fashion critic and writer Suzy Menkes selects the wrong choice of words, and her slur flies completely under the radar.

8. Pendleton's Collaboration with Those Hipster Companies: Oh, Pendleton. Our entangled epic relationship continues.

7. Spirit Hoods: I never blogged about these weird fluffy critters that hipsters love to wear on their heads while they're seeking vision quests at the latest music festival. But Adrienne Keene did over at Native Appropriations, and her interactions with the Spirit Hood Tribal Chief is hilarious.

6. Vogue's Indians: Vogue editors everywhere fell in love with the Indian and decided to do some fashion spreads in homage. The problem is that they chose to use non-Native designers, non-Native models, non-Native photographers, non-Native stylists and make-up artists, and non-Native consultants and editors.

5. Red-on-Red Art Crime: (Mis)Appropriation happens all across the board, and in every direction, and in this post from earlier in December, a Native artist/businessman steals a design from a well-known Metis artist to create accessories to sell on Zazzle.

4. The Callaloo Parade: Native-themed parades were all the rage this summer (remember when the Pride boys filled their float with Cowboys and Indians in Santa Fe?), but one in particular really stuck out for me. It was the Callaloo Caribana Parade held in Toronto, where 'sanctioned' hyper-sexualized costumes included the 'Native Apache' and the 'Sacrificial Mayan Virgin.' So, of course, I investigated the sexualization of Native women in fashion, from a critical perspective.

3. Proenza Schouler's Creepy Indians Video: Oh lawrd. When this one dropped I didn't know what to do. I think we all just scratched our heads. Some people tried to tell us that this video was 'clever,' but... I disagree.

2. White Women (and Men) and Headdresses: The headdress trend continues, despite being overtly disrespectful. Sigh. So I began researching the history of this annoying trend.

1. Urban Outfitters' Navajo Obsession: The short version: UO becomes obsessed with Navajos, Navajos send them a cease and desist letter, UO ignores, bloggers and writers wage digital war. Well, if it wasn't for this case, we wouldn't have this gem of a quote: "Don't claim Navajo, unless it's Navajo, and you ain't Navajo. So knock if off." Yea, knock it off.

BONUS: Genocide Chic Satire: Hilarity ensues when mock high fashion designer DW Diaz dips the old crusty past in some glitter!



Let's hope that none of these "top trends in Native appropriations in fashion" drag on into 2012!

Cheers to a new year~

Los Angeles Times | Top Trends of 2011

This is interesting:

The Los Angeles Times listed their Top 10 fashion trends of 2011, and 'Native Accents' show up as #4 (hey, at least they list us on a sacred number).

They explain: "Fair Isle knits and Native American prints were splashed across everything from 1980s-era cropped tops, to chunky scarves, leggings and sweaters. If you're looking for the source, think back to the fall 2010 D&G runway (a Fair Isle fest as seen in the top right photo), Proenza Schouler's fall 2011 collection inspired by Santa Fe, and the music festivals."

There you have it folks, Native people, tribes, and their cultural heritages are not the source of inspiration for Native accents. Nope, Dolce and Gabbana and Proenza Schouler are. The Los Angeles Times has completely erased us from the mix. Thanks guys.

Ok, now let's compare this 2011 post, with a 1952 snippet from the Los Angeles Times:

Nearly 60 years ago, references to the Native were also 'rampant' in the fashion scene. The difference, however, is that in the 1950s, the Los Angeles Times decided to feature a Native fashion designer (instead of non-Natives who are inspired by 'the Native'). Lloyd Kiva New (Cherokee) was an important fashion designer in the 1950s.

The caption reads, "This is going to be an Indian summer. The growing influence of the Southwest is responsible for the American Indian theme rampant in current sportswear. This two-piece dress by Lloyd Kiva, of Scottsdale, Ariz. (a Cherokee Indian himself), illustrates the trend. It's made of cactus-green and desert-sand wool with hand-woven trim." - Joan Short

So, the difference is that the LA Times featured a Native designer to illustrate the trend back then, but chooses not to today.

I think a top trend of 2011 is straight up Native appropriation.

Getting Deep with a Tribal Mash-Up

New York Fashion Week is underway (I'll post a review when it ends after September 15) and I'm expecting a healthy dose of 'tribal inspirations' to show up in the designers' collections.

About the popularity of the Tribal Trend, one L.A.-based non-Native designer had this to say:
"When life is chaotic, there is a desire for deeper understanding. At the end of the day, it's clothing, but there is more to it. Does globalization mean more than being connected electronically? I hope so. I like the idea of a mash-up of tribes."

(To read the full article, click here)

Beyond Buckskin September Links!

Lots happening in the Beyond Buckskin area of interests, so I thought I'd do a round up of some interesting articles and links - click away!

Native Elegance Hits Runway: A review of a Rapid City runway show featuring designs by Darlene Perkins, Mildred Carpenter, and Danita Strawberry. Models and designers from Indian country makin South Dakota look sexy!

Oklahoma Artist Joins NIKE to Create Native Inspired Clothing: A cool write-up about Bunky Echo-Hawk's historic collaboration with Nike - an alliance that's proving to have positive impacts on inspiring Native youth. Follow your dreams, kids!

Crossing Generations: Blogger Miss Mondo highlights Maori fashion designers Keri Wanoa and Hemi Sundgren, the brains behind WHIRI fashion. Miss Mondo is basically the Maori version of Beyond Buckskin, so of course I am an avid reader/follower! (but not in a creepy way!)

The Ephemerals: An all-female Aboriginal collective of artists and curators, the Ephemerals critique the current Tribal Trend and encourage college students to take a deeper look at the cultural implications of Fall's most important trends.

The Racial Construction of Preppiness, part II: The fierce ladies over at Threadbared take a look at a group of young urban males who appropriate and re-mix (and re-fashion) the Americana image constructed by designer Ralph Lauren. That's right, 'Polo low lifes'. Not specifically Native-focused, but a good article on the construction and reconstruction of identity, culture, and class. Super sick.

Futurist Giorgio Sant' Angelo, An Hommage: A model's perspective on Giorgio Sant Angelo, a designer whose vibrant Indigenous-inspired couture was all the rage in the 1970s. He made the Tribal Trend très chic by garbing celebrities such as Zsa Zsa Gabor, Diana Ross, and the Jaggers. (the Jaggers!)

Colorful Rooster Feathers Being Used As Hair Accessories: A creepy article about how one salon is taking the Feather Extensions Trend "a step further" by adding Native hair to the feather look. Get this, "because it's so hard to get rooster feathers," they started incorporating American Indian hair ("because of its strength"). Yikes! Using American Indian hair, they say, offers a more animal-friendly alternative. Scalps anyone?

Style Show Highlights Traditional Dress: The Cherokee Phoenix online news source reviewed a recent Southeastern-Indian fashion show held in Tahlequah. Models of all ages wore clothing from a period ranging from 900 A.D. to the present. Photo highlights include a full-length turkey-feather cape and this pretty Seminole style skirt (pictured above).



NDNs From All Directions from Bear Witness on Vimeo.

And finally, A Tribe Called Red Production video featuring the NDNs From All Directions ultimate remix. Fricka fricka.

The Tribal Trend: "It’d Be Truer To Call It 'Colonial.'"

Ooh girl!

Sarah Nicole Prickett published this article, titled Trending: The safari that never stops, over at the National Post yesterday, and it is an excellent critique of the current Tribal Trend:

When I was a child, the month of May meant my parents would sandwich us into the Volvo and drive to the middle of Nowhere, Ont., for the annual Mennonite Relief Sale. I’d go to the Ten Thousand Villages tent and buy something from Somewhere Else: an Indonesian woven bracelet, say. I knew nothing about the larger world, but I liked to imagine a girl my age making crafts with her mother, as I did, but with different-coloured hands. I also liked the bracelet.

Today — as in right this second — I could go into Urban Outfitters and buy the same thing for a little more money. It’s probably made in Indonesia, too. Village. Sweatshop. Same diff.

The “tribal trend,” as it’s offhandedly called in style-world, is truly trend, not fad. This BS has been proliferating for years. In the mid-’00s, white girls realized moccasins were great shoes to wear to Whole Foods. Later, they’d don feathered, headdress-y things at summer festivals (fight for your right to pool-party, I guess). Meanwhile, ikat and batik prints, colour-copied from some imagined Africa, were getting hype. In 2008, American Apparel cashed in with an “Afrika” collection; Galliano, whose extreme cultural sensitivity had not yet been recognized, designed shoes based on African fertility idols. Ever-savvy, Rachel Zoe declared “ethnic-inspired” things “so hot right now.” Presumably, she wasn’t referring to temperature in countries of origin.

At the time, a New York Times article noted, breezily, the inauthenticity of all this ethnic stuff. Quoth Brian Crumley, a jeweller who gives his collections names like “Nomad” and lives on that free-spirited desert isle of Manhattan: “The enticement of ethnic dress in modern culture is like going on a guided safari. We can wave to the lion from the safety of our SUV.”

The safari’s not stopping. This summer, you can go to the mall and come back from Mexico, with knock-off Missoni headscarves or Mara Hoffman bikinis. Knapsacks are “Navajo;” jewellery is “Native.” Recently I was asked to name next spring’s trends for a fast-fashion brand. One of their ideas was described to me as being not about “authentic pieces” from other places, but more about “what a privileged white person would wear to those places.” Well, I replied, at least you’re being honest now.

The pro of globalization is that you can buy pieces from other places, or with other provenances, and not just at Ten Thousand Villages (which, FYI, celebrates World Fair Trade Day on May 14). Out of Africa, for example, are coming some fresh and excellent things to wear. The designer Max Osterweis lives in New York, but his beautiful label Suno is manufactured ethically in Kenya; it mixes the materials and colours of his native land with North American sportswear influences. Similarly, Duro Olowu has brought Nigerian textures and draping techniques to trendy Londontown, where he’s finding success (and a little Mobama love; she wears it on her upcoming Oprah appearance). And here in Toronto, designer Chinedu Ubakam — also Nigerian, originally — is remixing traditional adire prints in Photoshop, retailoring his identity.

Maybe the difference between African people making African clothes for white people and white people making African clothes for white people seems small, but it’s significant. It can separate the clothes from the costumes.

“There’s quite a big difference between the groups in Africa, so ‘tribal’ doesn’t tell you anything about where a style is from,” Ubakam says. “Might not even be from Africa. Designers label anything with naturalistic elements “African,” but it could be South American, Asian, anywhere outside of the Western world.”

“I don’t even know what ‘tribal’ means anymore,” Toronto-based accessories designer Jenny Bird says. Her new collection was inspired, Bird says, by India although she’s not yet travelled there. Then she laughs. “Aren’t we all part of a tribe?”

Yes. But we Westerners tend to call our tribe “civilization,” while with “tribal,” we imply its earliest definition, “heathen,” or its connotation, “primitive,” or its deeper sociological meaning, “the other.” And when we wear “tribal” as a trend, we’re lifting the style of a people without feeling for their history. It’d be truer to call it “colonial.”

In 1952, Dr. Frederic H. Douglas, a curator at the Denver Art Museum, put on the “Indian Fashion Show:” authentic, ahem, Native American garments, shown on white models. Problematic, but that was then, and his aim was revolutionary: to show that “Indian” women wear art, not war buckets and paint. When I look at Juliette Lewis (2008) and Ke$ha (2010) and Eliza Doolittle at Coachella (2011) wearing, uh, war buckets and paint, I wonder how far we haven’t come. Then I wonder if they’d like a Hudson’s Bay blanket to match. (My annoyance is felt far more sharply by Native girls: see mycultureisnotatrend.tumblr.com or nativeappropriations.blogspot.com.)

Then again: what if they just like the “Indian” feathers or the “African” prints, the way I liked the Indonesian bracelet? If an Indonesian girl buys a pair of blue jeans, Americans aren’t incensed by her ignorance of California working-class history. Well, yeah. That might be ’cause her people have never oppressed theirs. Blue jeans have never been a basis for bigotry. Louboutins aside, white girls haven’t suffered for fashion.

One woman’s trend is another woman’s history; one’s spoils are another’s suffering. You might not be interested in the provenance or the tradition behind the styles you (and I) have borrowed from others. That’s fine. You can always shop in your own village.

(Read the original here)

TecBor Tribal Eco-Couture

This just in from the eco Couture blogspot!:

TecBor Tribal
14 June 2010

One of the biggest trends to stride the runway this season was the "tribal" concept we so often see during the spring and summer. However, this spring's "tribal" styles had a new, hard-edge. Fierce models looking more like warriors, took on the runways with painted tattoos and armor style jewelry, providing the perfect inspiration for every summer wardrobe.


The perfect way to bring this trend into your wardrobe is with accessories. I was on the look-out last week for more accessories like these to toughen up some of my girly looks, when I found just the thing.


As I scanned countless pages on etsy, I came across an accessories designer that has a very new take on this popular spring trend. Flavia Amadeu, a member of etsy, sells amazing jewelry made from a rubber material produced in the rain forests of Brazil. The unique material, called TecBor, is an eco-friendly rubber made with a new technology of coagulating the material with out the smoke acid chemicals used in making other rubber products.


Flavia Amadeu makes everything from bracelets to bookmarks with this interesting new eco-friendly material. The pieces I found most interesting were the "zig zag” and "rectangle" bracelets and arm bands. These bracelets are bold and tough with a tribal feel that’s perfect for the the summer trends. Also, because it's made from rubber the jewelry is comfortable and flexible and comes in vibrant summer colors. They would even be the perfect accessory to wear with a bathing suit at the pool or beach.

Check out Flavi Amadeu’s great pieces on etsy and bring the tribal trend into your wardrobe.

Note: She also sells other items, such as necklaces:


Diamond Necklace, Green Jewelry from the Amazon Rain Forest. MADE IN BRAZIL. Colors: orange, red, blue, green, lime, yellow, black, brown. About the material: The green rubber production originated as a means of sustainable development for native Amazonian communities. This project, known as TecBor, was developed by the University of Brasilia, Brazil where the manufacturing was perfected to improve the properties of the rubber. The rubber production is environmentally friendly and product safe for human use.


Thin Elipses made of an ecological rubber from Amazon. It is a Green Jewelry from the Amazon Rain Forest. MADE IN BRAZIL. It can be used as necklaces, as elastic for things, as charm or holder for your hair or as what you imagine. $12.00 each one. You can choose many colors, creating your own combination. They are very resistant and flexible. The material is an ecological rubber from the Amazon.

[Thanks eco Couture for posting on this! Check out eco Couture's Blog, where they state, "Why should sustainability be stuffy, unaffordable, or overcomplicated? Here, I'll try to find the best of designer organic fashion to better the world--through green and fair trade practices."

Review | Fashion Week Trinidad & Tobago

Wow, ever since I started researching Native American fashion, I have also been interested in Native, tribal, or Indigenous fashion elsewhere - i.e. Australia, New Zealand, Africa, Polynesia, etc - and I've come across some really neat things in my search. One of the latest gems is the Trinidad and Tobago Fashion Week held this time each year. Well, I say each year, but they've only just begun, with this recent showing being their third year.

I’m charting the launching of ‘other’ fashion weeks (by ‘other,’ I mean those that are not the established top 4: New York, London, Milan, Paris) because I am interested in the idea or possibility of a ‘Native American’ fashion week (perhaps years down the road?), or a fashion collective that could show at New York. Seeing the buzz that these organizations draw is exciting because it demonstrates a conversation that is occurring – one in which nations are saying “Hey, check us out, we’ve got some innovative and creative (and sometimes culturally ‘traditional’) ideas for fashion.”


The third annual installment of Fashion Week Trinidad & Tobago (FWTT) was highly anticipated and featured the largest number of designers in its history. With a whopping 50 designers recorded, the event launched in Tobago on May 29-31 before moving to Trinidad from June 2-6. The line-up featured 40 designers from T&T and 10 from other Caribbean nations.

“Forty is the highest number of local designers featured in their own country of any Caribbean fashion event,” Richard Young, Fashion Week Trinidad & Tobago’s artistic director stated.

“We were flooded with requests and interest not only locally but regionally, so we were able to select an eclectic mix to reach a wider cross section of fashion to meet buying tastes.”

Each runway show uniquely displayed designs and creations encompassing five branded categories: Caribbean Cutting Edge, Cosquelle Swimwear, Nouveau Caribbean, New World Style, and Haute Caribbean.

The focus for Fashion Week Trinidad & Tobago is to revitalize and develop the local fashion industry and bring about the awareness of its socio-economic potential. FWTT organizers recognize the tremendous creative and technical fashion talent present in T&T and strive to provide opportunities for the fashion industry’s development – both locally and regionally – with the ultimate goal of becoming a global fashion force. With FWTT's exposure, they undoubtedly also offer a great deal of diversity to the fashion world (especially when it comes to models - check 'em out in the images below).

In its third year, FWTT paid tribute to 2010 as the year of Biodiversity. Honoring proactive initiatives for the preservation of nature and for current and future human wellbeing, FWTT3 designated three major agendas:

1. Staying power
2. Sustainable development
3. Style definition

FWTT3 hopes to provide opportunities for young people to access the ability, authority and agency to influence decisions and implement change within the developing local fashion industry.

They also hope to define a Caribbean aesthetic – an alternative fashion perspective born out of a regional experience, and charting a new-world identity characterized by an inimitable Trinbagonian style.

Fashion Week Trinidad & Tobago 2010 also launched its first every seminar series. The seminars covered topics including intellectual property and copyright, the business of fashion, developing greater Caribbean export, styling and photography, the definition of the Caribbean Aesthetic, and the influence of technology on fashion.

(Information from CaribbeanLifeNews.com and fwtt.org. All images are from the Fashion Week Trinidad & Tobago website, and are from FWTT2. I tried to include an image from each designer - but there were too many fabulous designs! I loved looking through their images - if you're bored or procrastinating, definitely check them out on their website at fwtt.org)

Video | 1950s 'Tribal Trend': The Squaw Dress

I came across this archival video on the 'Making Owls Cool Since 1986' blog site. It's a video of Arizona fashion in the 1950s (in particular, the squaw dress). This time period was also when Cherokee designer Lloyd Kiva New was a celebrated couturier. The video is really interesting to me for 2 main reasons:

First, it reminds me of the world in which Lloyd Kiva New lived - it was segregated and stratified, and to me this makes his successes and accomplishments even more notable. Secondly, it depicts a 1950s version of the tribal trend. Currently, the Indian in fashion is a major fad (check out the Native Appropriations blog) - and I think that a comparative analysis of the 1950s squaw dress and the 2010 hipster headdress would be a fantastic study. Maybe I'll do that this summer... hmm.. anyways, here's the video:




The video features the squaw dress, and my dissertation advisor, Nancy Parezo, has conducted research on this fashion phenomenon. You can read her article on the Squaw dress here.

Parezo explains:
The Squaw Dress, a categorization label for several types of one- and two-piece dresses, was a regional style in the American Southwest in the late 1940s and became a national dress trend in the 1950s. Its defining feature, a full, tiered skirt, came in three shapes: (1) a slightly gathered skirt based on Navajo dress; (2) a "broomstick" or pleated skirt based on Navajo and Mexican attire; and (3) a fully gathered, three-tiered skirt based on contemporary Western Apache Camp Dresses or Navajo attire. ... (4) Squaw Dresses were extremely popular because of their comfort and regional indigenous associations. They represented both idealized femininity and Americanness because of their Native American origins. This is one reason for the label; American designers, coming into their own in the ready-to-wear and casual clothing markets, were determined to distinguish themselves from European designers. What better way to do this than to use names associated with and design ideas borrowed from or inspired by the First Americans?

Cool Owl also found this 1955 Ocala Star Banner article, which highlights the 'squaw' dresses created by Lloyd Kiva New.

When the squaw dress trend took off, designers in the Northeast US began making their own versions, but, in this article, New, along with the other designers, claimed to be the ones who made the real versions. He explained, “Out here, we know how to make them. They are a modern expression of an ancient primitive art. Imitations always look phony.”

At one point, New employed fifteen Native American assistants to help him create his purses and fashion designs - providing economic opportunities and opening new doors for Native artists. Later, he went on to co-found the Institute of American Indian Arts - the premiere Native arts institution.

It's a really interesting newspaper clipping so definitely check it out!

Here's some images of Lloyd Kiva New and his dresses:

Interview | Patricia Michaels

(Native American clothing designer Patricia Michaels enjoys her accolades at the Tribal Fusions fashion show.)

Below is an insightful interview conducted with Taos fashion designer Patricia Michaels. She participated in the 2005-2007 global exchange program funded by the WK Kellogg Foundation, which sought to "support and promote commercialization of high value craft products through enhancing training, product development, and market linkages."

Michaels speaks to a primary challenge of keeping indigenous art alive. The artist’s designs must translate into products that appeal to a wider audience — who may or may not appreciate the traditions from which they come — to create a more prosperous future for artists and their communities.

Interviewee: Patricia Michaels, Fashion and Surface Designer
8/19/2005 - Santa Fe, NM

What is your name and profession?

My name is Patricia Michaels. And my profession is fashion design and surface design.

What is it like to be a Native American designer?

I've been doing fashion design for the past 20 years and it's been difficult because when I first started to do fashion I wasn't accepted as Native American fashion. They asked me what I was trying to do? What I was doing made no sense. And why I wasn't I making fringed coats and beaded garments and Hollywood designs? So I called this last collection that I did Naturally Native because it's inspired a lot by nature and that's what I'm inspired by. Therefore it's only natural that we evolve and go with the content of what nature is providing for us. And sometimes if nature is mad, then my costume might seem a little bit racy and edgy; or if nature is very calm and beautiful and I'm enjoying myself I just really follow that and that's where my heart is and I enjoy it.

Has it been hard to market your pieces?

Yes, it was extremely hard because they said, this is all so new and different, you need to write a story about each piece and then they'll sell. It does work and it's a nice relationship with everything I create. But it is difficult to market because woman and Native American, they feel that our society just didn’t have enough Native American designers so therefore how could there be an industry for Native American designers without more than one real innovative designer. They said, where are you going to go with this? You're representing natives. So now I think it's finally growing and there's a lot of young contemporary designers and I think that there are huge possibilities for it.

Do you see yourself as representing natives?

Absolutely, my collection had the theme of water because we struggle for water rights in our village today, and for native people we have always taken care of our resources so it seems like every time the resources are out in the surrounding areas, they come to us and fight for our resources. So any time that I see struggles for native nations on their resources it hits me in a way, then I work out my frustrations through creating something beautiful and knowing that we hold on to it the best that we can and make it into the beauty that we see it.

(A native artist shows his work at Santa Fe's annual Native American Market.)

Why do you think indigenous designs are appealing?

Indigenous designs are extremely challenging and appealing to wear and exciting because of the fact that there's something that is meaningful behind each piece created. A lot of times in society, people have gone away from taking the time to really think about what they're doing from day to day. Indigenous cultures are raising their families to really think about how their family is going to enjoy their life and still come home and bring something peaceful. Not only monetary things to the family household. It encompasses conversation, observation of feelings and the environment about them. Therefore the indigenous designs carry that same type of message. For most people they might find it a little too challenging, they don’t want to deal with it, they run away with it. Get your coffee, your notepad, take your notes, it's not important, we've got stocks to buy, the world is to pillage. With native design, I've tried to take it in the direction of a very contemporary look so they're not so inhibited about approaching what we feel in our hearts.

Do you see yourself as a role model for other Native American artists?

Absolutely, I've worked in materials that were non-Hollywood materials that didn't have anything to do with leather or wool. I went straight to work with silk and that became a challenge. And I also started to do a lot of couture and custom two-piece suits. That was definitely innovative and most people were just not expecting to see that.

When did you realize you would be a designer?

In the fourth grade when my Barbie dolls took a creative award at a science fair. I dyed their skin velvety brown and so the science fair judges looked at it and said well, you know, we don't know. She didn't write anything about the content of what went in the skin but we think this is very creative and it's beautiful. It was like an invention creative award.

(The Tribal Fusions fashion show offered designs from native cultures in Africa, as well as the United States.)

What are your thoughts relating to the African culture?

For the time that I have been able to spend with the Africans from South Africa, I know that they have that same belief background, where you really want to have that cultural experience and it's a longing similarity that you just feel. The presence is there and it's strong. There are just parallels that just go unspoken where you see them taking care of each other in a very familiar way. You only want to spend that time because it's rare, we're in America being Native American Indians and the cultures that we have aren't always so pronounced as the experience that we're having with the South Africans.

Had you thought previously about cross cultural relationship?

Yes, I grew up on the stage dancing as a child. I've always thought that it would be nice to have cultural exchanges with other countries. The night before I was born my mother opened up a gallery downtown Santa Fe and from that moment on it was incredible. I saw different people coming into Santa Fe and into our gallery and we traveled throughout the United States doing cultural exchange programs through dance. But I was raised around a family of dancers, I realized that I appreciated the ceremony of getting prepared before the dance and the way the traditional garments looked and that just expounded on my interest to make garments for people who could wear them without feeling like they're intruding into our culture.

What were your goals in taking part in this shared event?

My goal in taking part in this shared event is that I have an exchange with the South Africans so that we can grown from one another's experience and knowledge of what areas we're strong in and what areas that we are weak in. I find it extremely fascinating that they can have their cottage industries established and really be providing for their families. It's important because of the native culture we're very close to our families. In my studio I have mostly family members working in there, aunts and apprentice nieces, but if that can just grown further and we can respectfully market it with strong understanding that there's a place for everybody, even as far as shipping and sales. These areas as communities have never been explored as vastly as most people think.

(The Tribal Fusions fashion show offered designs from native cultures in and the United States, as well as Africa.)

How is what you're doing today going to contribute to the social and economic development of the Native American?

The most rewarding part of what I can give back to my native culture and my works of fashion design and textile design is that there's a message in each piece and I also have apprentices that work with me. A lot of my models are also Native American Indian and it gives young girls the opportunity to feel good about themselves because low self esteem is high. Native American culture with the stereotype expectations of Native Americans it's easy for someone to feel that they don’t have a place in society, which media always propagates. I have a family who then has all their own creative energy and all of us are doing our own things. I have a son who does his own independent film documentaries and then a daughter who was modeling today, she's eight so she does everything. My husband, Tony, who's a painter, and they see us evolving constantly and enjoying a creative spirit. I think it gives a lot of excitement to the community and we hire so many people to help that they learn from it and it feels good because you're doing something with people that you absolutely love.

What would you say to someone who looks at what is going on here today and says how's that ever going to change anybody's life?

I know it changed my life because already I've met wonderful and foreign people, I've made contacts and I did great sales. At the end of today, after you do a show and what we do at the Indian Market. If I sold better today than any of my other fashion shows, then that's the first start and secondly to have a relationship, to brainstorm with the other designers, to go forward with what works and what doesn't work, that's another important part and we decided that before we do a fashion show we would have a debriefing. But I think the power the designers had as a whole felt it was very important that we do debriefing and think of other alternatives of how to market and what will be good for us.

What do you hope the Africans take away from this exchange?

I hope that the South Africans take away with them the feeling of my appreciation that we were able to participate with them and that the sincerity of their presence here and all the desires to a part of a collaborative effort, is very strong. That they continue a relationship, they continue communication. More of how to better market, how to better produce, how to be ready for the mass production and all of that exchanges is hoping that we get into that realm of let's make it work.

[Read original here at the WK Kellogg Foundation Website]

(Original designs of silk, leather, and everything in between graced the Tribal Fusions fashion show.)

Article | Techno Tribal, Tribal Punk in Fashion

("Tribal Punk" (Cheek), photo by Felix Wong)

Techno Tribal, Tribal Punk in fashion
by Remodel Minority

Tribal is the new cool thing kids. Fashion site WhoWhatWear.com featured “Techno Tribal” in their Trend Report (source). In their words:

Last spring, we noticed a preponderance of fashion-forward femmes who were trying the Tribal Punk trend: think ethnic prints paired with loads of leather and studs. Of course, prints are huge news for spring as well, but we are pleased to report that this year both designers and directional dressers are taking a new approach to patterns. This season the focus has shifted to digitally engineered prints that riff on classic Native American and African folk art in hyper-bright colors. And while the influences of these Az-Tech looks come from all over the globe, we are beyond pleased to gather our favorites right here in today’s Trend Report featuring our favorite Techno Tribal looks!

Anyone catch the (racist) pun? I personally have a morbid fascination with the fashion industry. It’s something that I have come to enjoy (and indulge in at times) but I feel quite critical of it. Here, the appropriation of said “tribal” cultures is problematic and the fact that mainstream fashion is now catching on only helps to propagate illusions of “nativism.” Many of these fashions are influenced by an underlying matrix of stereotypes and bourgeois fantasies. Specific cultures and their cultural productions have become regular images in an industry dominated by eurocentric and elitist ideals. The spread in Cheek Magazine (pictured) detailing “tribal punk” shows a white model costumed in a turban, headscarf, dreadlock-looking braid things, geometric prints (clearly “ethnic inspired”), stone beading, etc.

Analogously, hipsters have also taken to appropriating Native headdress as illustrated on Adrienne’s blog Native Appropriations. She writes, “I’m guessing it’s just an iteration of the tribal fashion trends, with a little bit of the desire to be counter culture thrown in there” (source). I definitely agree with her, but I think there is more than a little bit of desire to be counterculture on the hipsters’ part. These appropriations take advantage of already grounded ideas of exoticism, “rawness,” and “otherness” of non-white cultures, and then repackage them with alluring unconventionality and uniqueness. Which, of course, just furthers the marginalization of people of color and their cultures.

For many, fashion is a medium for self-expression. It can help you escape mediocrity, monotony, and the mainstream. However, tribal fashion trends only exacerbate censored depictions of historically oppressed cultures. In other words, appropriation is often times advertised as a “celebration” of cultures but we only get a guilt-free, clean, re-envisioned replication. For those who wonder why cultural appropriation is considered offensive by many people, I think it is best stated by Tami on her blog What Tami Said: “What’s so wrong with being inspired by another culture? I’m not sure how to answer, because borrowing from a historically oppressed culture is not as simple as some would want it to be. Fair or not, there are hundreds of years of meaning behind that faux African print dress, that Motown-inspired tune and the silent Harajuku posse” (source).

All I can say for sure is that there’s a fine line between inspiration and appropriation, appreciation and exploitation in the world of fashion. Let’s continue to keep a critical eye on trends such as these.

[see original here at Remodel Minority]

Marketing Ethnic Chic

I missed this presentation because I was in Arizona for the Heard Market, but last week, Sydney Sullivan presented in Albuquerque on 'Ethnic Chic' - It sounded like an amazing presentation and I wish I could have caught it! Here's a short article about it:

CMC Major Presents at National Conference
March 09, 2010
Critical Media and Cultural Studies major Sydney Sullivan (Class of 2010), presented "Marketing Ethnic Chic: How the Fashion Industry Has 'No Reservations'," at the annual Native American Literature Symposium (NALS) held at the tribal venue at Isleta Pueblo in Albuquerque, NM, on March 4, 2010.

Sullivan’s presentation focused on an examination of what the fashion industry terms "ethnic chic," and on how and in what ways the historical and contemporary fashion industry--from ads in fashion magazines to fashion blogs to runways--co-opted and continue to co-opt Native American designs, textiles and images. Her findings suggest that the fashion industry continues to diminish American Indian identities by “exoticizing” Native American tribes while at the same time promoting hegemonic ideals of American [Western] consumerism.

"Sydney captured the complicity of institutional racism and presented articulately and with compelling image representation," said Jane Hafen, Associate Professor of English at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and Clan Mother of the Native American Literature Symposium.

The Native American Literature Symposium, with its "Many Voices, One Center" maxim, is organized by an independent group of Indigenous scholars committed to making a place where Native voices can be heard. Since 2001, they have brought together some of the most influential voices in Native America to share stories--in art, prose, poetry, film, religion, history, politics, music, philosophy, and science--from their worldview.

Sullivan was encouraged to submit a presentation proposal to NALS by Assistant Professor of Critical Media and Cultural Studies Denise K. Cummings, who also presented at the symposium. Sydney's work on "ethnic chic" was developed in CMC 350: Native American Media and Cultural Studies, with Cummings, and CMC 400: Senior Seminar - Research Practicum in CMCS, with Lisa M. Tillmann. The Office of the Dean of the Faculty and the Department of Critical Media and Cultural Studies supported Sydney's conference experience.

[originial article from Rollins]

Topshop Goes Native In London

Topshop goes Native in London:

London Fashion Week is coming to a close, and not without seeing some raw earthy 'Native' influences at the Topshop Unique fashion show. Several fashion publications and blogs reported on the over-the-top antler headdresses, bushy unibrows, and 'caveman chic' - but this reporter discusses the earthy Tribal Trend and ponders its influence and future:

"We didn’t think it would take long before the native look that us hippies have been rocking would start to wear off onto the mainstream. Over the last couple of years we’ve seen the mainstream fashion outlets slowly but surely turning more and more native. All of a sudden it’s ‘cool’ to look tribal. Could it be that urban chic is slowly but surely evolving from commercial hip hop honey style to something a bit more imaginative, meaningful and artistic…? And now the question is, when people were wearing bright colourful shades and neon 80s outfits only a year ago is this narnia earth mother native vibe being represented on the streets because Topshop told us so? As kroarohawks, we know that glorifying Gods creation like the native americans do with their costume is more than just a fashion statement…"

Also, here is a video of Topshop's fashion show:

Blog | Native Appropriations

Check out these awesome posts on Native Appropriations in fashion -

The first post discusses an Hermes scarf, 'Pani La Shar Pawnee,' and the second is on Pendleton cloaks.

Blogger Adrienne K. has also posted discussions about The Strange Case of the Hipster Headdress, the Gap's Navajo Tracker Hat, the Tribal Trend, and Urban Outfitters' obsession with Indians.

Her blog investigates the complicated world of appropriation, focusing specifically on the misappriopriation and stereotyping of Native American motifs in popular culture.