2019 BUY NATIVE Holiday Gift Guide

It's been a while since we've done a Holiday Gift Guide, and we are excited to do it this year! We hope that some of these items inspire you to Buy Native this season and support some pretty amazing artists. Beyond Buckskin works with dozens of artists to promote and sell their work through our online Boutique and physical retail store located on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation in Belcourt, ND. We also promote Native artists and entrepreneurs through our BUY NATIVE list. Even if you're on a tight budget this year, please consider sharing this guide with your networks.

Club/BBTee: Native American T-Shirt of the Month Club

We have been anxiously awaiting the launch of this new awesome subscription club option! Introducing Club/BBTee: Native American T-shirt of the Month Club!  We can't wait to bring you killer new and unreleased designs by some of our favorite Native American artists! 

This project is meant to open up more doors for designers, and to share their creative talent with more people. Just think about it - every month, you not only get a wardrobe refresher, but you also get to learn about new designers - it's like a rabbit hole of awesomeness. 

A Study in Inspiration

Well we officially hit the one year anniversary of launching our Native American Jewelry of the Month club. We've had so much fun putting each box together!

For this month, I wanted to offer up a case study of inspiration. There is this magnificent old jingle dress, made by Mary Bigwind from White Earth over 80 years ago, stuck in my mind. It was a simple sleeveless dress, with less than 5 rows of tin cone jingles on black velvet. It’s so chic and elegant, but also, you can feel the healing power vibrating out of the image.

The Red Dress, II (2019)

This dress is fashioned after the traditional buckskin dresses of the Northern Plains, but made with velvet in powerful electric red. It is striking.

The necklace is fully beaded and is a collaboration piece done with Tyra Jerome. It is based on the floral beadwork of our People, the Anishinaabe, the original people, the Human Beings. The old folks say that beadwork patterns tell stories, and the placement of the flowers next to one another could reference a certain location where those plants grow, or even a medicinal recipe. Colors also confer ideas of serenity, strength, or rebirth.

United Tribes Tribal Leaders Summit | Small Business Resources

I am here at the United Tribes Tribal Leaders Summit in Bismarck, ND. I'm sitting here, in our Beyond Buckskin booth, typing this post, in between meeting and greeting new and old friends. I love this particular conference because it draws leaders from this region into one space that is simultaneously big, but also intimate. It is a great chance to meet up with the people who are - to put it frankly - leaders. They are leading programs, initiatives, policies, and businesses focused on health, cultural consulting, economic development, media, education, and more.

Backstage | Photos From Our Latest Event

We had so much fun at our fashion show last week held at the Sky Dancer Casino in Belcourt, ND!

We were invited by the Tribal Nations Research Group to host an evening fashion show, and we gladly accepted.

You can scroll down to see some of the pictures that we snapped backstage featuring all the looks shown on the runway. From streetwear to couture, shellwork to beadwork, snapbacks to ribbon shirts, we showcased a variety of designs!