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.

Roosters, Fishermen, Celebrities and Salons: The Feather Extensions Trend

A most interesting trend has been sweeping the nation since the start of the year.

Thanks to celebrities like Ke$ha and Miley Cyrus, feathers are fluttering into young women's hair as part of a hot new accessory trend. Colorful and earth-toned bird feathers are woven into hair to create a hippy-meets-Native-American-meets-funky-rocker look.

Just how rooster feathers became such a rage is a bit hard to explain. It could be coming from the 'exotic' tribal trend. It could be inspired by Native American traditional headdresses. It could also be influenced by Steven Tyler, who sits on this year's "American Idol" judges panel and dons feathers daily.


Whatever the source, the trend has taken off across the nation.

Many of the feathers are being supplied by an unlikely source for fashion: Fishing bait shops. Long rooster feathers used by fly fishermen to bait salmon or trout are ideal for weaving into hair.

"It just became a wild thing," said Mark Dingler, who owns The Angler's Choice Tackle Shop fishing store in Capitola. "It's a great way to sell feathers. I'm getting phone calls from all over California and other states." The trend has grown so fast that fishing shops are having a tough time keeping their best rooster feathers in stock.

As recently as the first week of June, ABC news reported angst vocalized by fishermen, who suddenly couldn't order a popular feather for fly-fishing. The fancy rooster tails, boasting highly-patterned colors, are ideal lures. They were suddenly on back-order due to orders placed by hair salons. The most popular rooster feathers are long and thin, very straight and come in vibrant colors and shades.

In salons, higher demand for feathers translated to higher prices. "As more people have gotten into the trend, they have been getting very expensive. It was $35 in the beginning," Monterey salon hairstylist Amy Paz said. Now, "Some people have paid $500."

At the Gathering of Nations powwow in April, one vendor noted that her feathered earring business was at risk - she wouldn't be able to sell her earrings at the $30-40 price range much longer. All of the hair salons were buying up the supplies, she said, and driving up the price.

Higher demands also have other repercussions like ethical (or, more likely, unethical) treatment of birds. Some salons only buy from farms where the feathers are collected after they’ve been naturally molted. But the sudden surge in the popularity of the feather extension trend means that the majority of the feathers we see were probably not harvested ethically.

The feathers are not easy to come by in the first place.

They come from roosters that are genetically bred and raised for their plumage. In most cases, the birds do not survive the plucking.

(Above: Tom Whiting, a poultry geneticist with a Ph.D. in his field, has developed several strains and color variets of these colorful roosters that produce the finest fly-tying feathers in the business.)

At Whiting Farms, Inc., in western Colorado, one of the world's largest producers of fly-tying feathers, the roosters live about a year while their saddle feathers - the ones on the bird's backside and the most popular for hair extensions - grow as long as possible. Then the animal is euthanized. Whiting Farms is harvesting over a thousand birds a week as it tries to meet the aggressive demands of salon owners and stylists, as well as its classic fly fishing clientele.

At any rate, it seems both PETA supporters and your average fisherman can't wait for this trend to be over.

Read the original articles here, here and here.

2010 New York Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Debrief

I'm looking through slides upon slides of photos shot during the Fall/Winter 2010 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York that wrapped up on Feb 18.

American fashion can be so boring sometimes! If you're thinking about looking through a bunch of slides, I'm going to suggest that you just skip it, and go to the highlights at the New York Times.

I am, however, now fascinated with the menswear of Thom Browne.

My true reason for this 'pictoral/textual' analysis is to look for any stereotypical Indian or primitivist influences in fashion: fringe, fur, feathers, and tribal patterns. And oh boy did I see A LOT of fringe.

FRINGE: Phillip Lim had it on his shoes, the Academy of Art University had it in long grey 'cords' that stretched from the shoulder to the knee in one case, Rodarte had yarny fringe. Cynthia Rowley really REDEFINED fringe (much to my excitement!) - the clumps of thin multi-colored fringe she used to decorate the fronts of shirts or to circle around her dresses rocked that shit out.

THE WILD WEST: Zac Posen had one cowgirl shirt, but Derek Lam 'went wild with Western themes' and had fringed purses and belts, and fringed sash scarves, which all relayed a 'horse rider' aesthetic. Lam escaped looking cliche by adding in a distinctive city edge to his pieces. An orange skirt and grey dress were each fringed and featured Indian-style decorative motifs in black. Two jackets were detailed with black embroidery also in geometric triangle motifs. This 'borrowing' of a generic Indian aesthetic pattern is common in fashion. It is recognizably 'Indian' without being too tribally-specific.

PATTERNS: Proenza Schouler combined tribal designs with street art (and Goth aesthetic) to produce a wild and out-there line. It was electric, and definitely not boring.

ANNA SUI: Man, this chick loves Indians. I can always count on her to bring tribal-boho to the runway. One reporter explained, "Always an adherent of the tribal cause, Sui accessorized the ensembles with fur 'trapper' hats." Which is totally fine, but I would love her more if she would hire an up-and-coming Native designer as part of her team. That would not only be forward-thinking, but would bring a new element to her collections.

FUR: Since prehistoric times, fur has been used not only for warmth and protection, but also for display and adornment. Today, fur continues to announce wealth, luxury, and exclusivity. Many designers incorporated fur this season, but I was looking for any evidence of the use of fur to convey 'primitiveness' as opposed to 'Bourgeoisness.' I spotted fur-clad huntresses at Thakoon and Michael Kors, and Elie Tahari, Zac Posen and Ralph Lauren had some wiiild fur-covered shoes and purses.

ARISE MAGAZINE AFRICAN COLLECTIVE: I bring up this collective because of America's penchant to lump the 'others' into a grouping called 'tribal.' So I'm carefully following Arise's success (and their challenges) in getting into the exclusive tents at Bryant Park. I support the idea to produce a similar collective for Native designers because I think that if it was done correctly, a collective could 1. get Native designers into Bryant Park, and 2. raise awareness about this little-known but talented fashion world and open more doors for Native American fashion designers. While a collective guarantees a slot during fashion week, it also runs the risk of ghettoizing the designers. So, a careful analysis of Arise's shows is important if one wants to build a Native American collective. For Arise's third showing, the fashion and culture magazine once again rallyed 3 of the top African designers to present their lines at Bryant Park. The show was covered in important fashion review publications, and one reporter stated that the Arise show has established itself as 'the show to attend' at New York Fashion Week.

DIVERSE MODELS: I do believe Tracy Reese wins for having the most diverse models. Bravo Tracy, show 'em how it should be done!

URBAN WARRIOR: Nicole Miller presented "A look that is strength personified; ready for the urban jungle." Her usual use of black in her collections was accented with tones in camo, brick, olive, and ash. The fronts of some of her garments were embellished with what reminded me of fused Northwest Coast crest designs. Zac Posen on the other hand presented a short red dress with geometric chevron patterns in contrasting silver and black - this was urban tribal attire. At Vassilios Kostetsos, silver or bronze paint covered parts of the faces of male models. One reporter explained, "Even the gorgeous male models sported Greek warrior masks painted on their faces. The warrior influences continued with wrist-to-elbow metal arm bands."

FEATHERS: Plumage! The power of plumage to signify both vigor and ardor has a long history in fashion. Every once in a while, feather headdresses make an appearance on the runway. This year, there were no such warbonnets. Instead, small delicate feathers were incorporated into female attire, which, if dissected, could be conceived of as portraying subtle sensual exoticism. The bulk of Irina Shabayeva's collection incorporated feathers. She presented a dress with a full skirt of feathers, and coats embellished with massive feathers - she even had Tupperware bird necklaces and earrings rendered to look like feathers. Tons of black feathers were seen at Ralph Rucci, Prabal Gurung, and Altuzarra, but nothing stereotypically 'Indian.' So I'm curious - if the tribal trend is so hot right now, why is it absent from the runways? Where is this trend coming from? The streets? Why is it not reflected in fashion week? Is the Indian on its way out of fashion again?

The lines, overall/in general, seemed very wearable, maybe even 'safe,' with only subtle experimentation with cuts and silhouettes. Perhaps it has something to do with the economy...

Black was a favorite color, and the layering was thin (except for the menswear, which was most often presented with several layers, and high-water pants. Loved it. Show me your socks! Wait - high-water, that's probably not the correct fashion term..).

Anyways, I am excited to see what the next 3 weeks of fashion have in store as we head to London (Feb 19-24), Milan (Feb 24-Mar 3), and Paris (Mar 2-10). Actually, I'm just really pumped for Paris (btw - McQueen is set to show his final collection during Paris Fashion Week on March 9. I wish more designers were as avant-garde, edgy, and experimental as McQueen.).


UPDATE 2/23/10:
Native influences were seen at William Rast: "Native American influences entered the collection, with ponchos, coats and turquoise headbands. A lot of models, male and female, sported fluffy raccoon tails off their hips." Justin Timberlake is a creative director for William Rast.

Rodarte, L.A.’s most celebrated fashion export, abandoned its gothy spider-web aesthetic for Fall 2010 with a more upbeat show inspired by the Southwest, Mexican arts and crafts and Native American culture.

Must Read | WILD: Fashion Untamed

What do Sitting Bull, Cher, and Alexander McQueen couture have in common?

The answer lies in a publication for the Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition WILD: Fashion Untamed. An important contribution to fashion and culture studies, this book documents the ongoing obsession with animalism as expressed through clothing.

“With more than one hundred costumes and accessories on display, ‘WILD: Fashion Untamed’ focuses on the practical, spiritual, psychosexual, and socioeconomic underpinnings of the decorative possibilities of birds and beasts.”

As you can expect from an exhibition catalogue, this publication is packed with vivid and visually captivating fashion photography spotlighting extravagantly feathered and furred models. The exhibition presents an unparalleled selection of couture created by over 70 well-known designers, such as Roberto Cavalli, Dolce & Gabbana, John Galliano, Jean Paul Gaultier, Bob Mackie, Alexander McQueen, Prada, Anna Sui, and Gianni and Donatella Versace.

Published in collaboration with Yale University Press, this catalogue not only presents some of the most exotic fashion designs in history, but also includes five essays that touch on subjects as controversial as racism, sexism, colonialism, and environmentalism.

The first chapter discusses the use of prehistoric tropes, such as the primitive huntress La Belle Sauvage by designers to convey modern concepts of womanliness. The second chapter spotlights fur’s signification as an elite commodity and as a sexual commodity. Next, the use of feathers is discussed as displays of male erotic and economic power, and as signifiers of female artifice and sexuality. In the fourth chapter, the author analyzes the visual and conceptual conflation of woman and cat in fashion, and the use of feline symbolism to invoke primal instincts referencing independence and initiative. The final chapter focuses on the reptiled female as powerful sexual symbol.

The catalogue can be purchased online at the Metropolitan Museum of Art website, or on Amazon.com.