Alaska Native Baby Contest

I love these pictures. They are from the Native Baby Contest held at the World Eskimo-Indian Olympics. It's a popular event, and parents can enter their babies to compete in a fashion show of sorts. The winner is the baby whose regalia is deemed best by judges, but I have no idea how they pick winners, they all look so adorable.

8-month old Siena Marie Reid of Buckland sleeps in her parka during the Native Baby Contest at the 50th World Eskimo Indian Olympics Thursday morning, July 21, 2011 at the Carlson Center. "She'll sleep through anything," mother Forest Rose Walker said. Eric Engman/News-Miner

13-month old Jerzey Lane of Fairbanks is displayed by her mother Sam Lane during the Native Baby Contest at the 50th World Eskimo Indian Olympics Thursday morning, July 21, 2011 at the Carlson Center. Eric Engman/News-Miner

Read more: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - Tiny tots square off in WEIO Native Baby Contest

Model Profile | India Lowery Jones King

"Live everyday as if it were your last."

India Lowery Jones King is a member of the Lumbee Tribe from Lumberton, North Carolina. She recently started modeling, and works closely with Turquoise Soul’s Wabanoonkwe Cameron-Hernandez. She has an eclectic style and is an avid supporter of Native artists, jewelers, and fashion designers. She’s a good friend of mine, and she agreed to answer some questions for me.

I want to start profiling Native models because many times they are ‘the face’ of Native fashion and they represent an important component of the Native fashion world. Here’s her interview, along with images from a photoshoot that she did for Turquoise Soul’s recent collection, Feather Frenzy.

When and why did you start modeling?
I started modeling recently because I wanted to represent Native Americans with pride and honor. Also, I wanted to show people that Native Americans do indeed have a diverse look. Many people assume that Native Americans all have long dark hair and brown skin. This is a stereotype that is typical because of Hollywood. However, Natives have a range of complexions, hair colors, eye colors, and hair textures.

What do you want people to know about Native models like yourself?
Native models represent our people not only with beauty on the outside but the inside as well. Most of us are intellectual beings trying to expose who we are to the world. Rather we are teachers, lawyers, professors, or athletes. We all have something we bring to the circle of life.

How would you define ‘beautiful’?
Beautiful is somewhere underneath the glued on eyelashes and layers of makeup. It is the story that we all have to share. The story of who we are, where we came from, and the paths we have chosen. Beautiful is being able to say that we are strong, independent, hard workers of society.

Why do you think it’s important for Native models to exist?
It's important for Native models to exist because we need to show our future Natives that we are a beautiful people. That we need to come together and show the world how special we are.

What is something that a lot of people don’t know, but should know, about Lumbees?
That we are the Biggest tribe east of the Mississippi River!!!!

Who are your favorite Native designers?
Wabanoonkwe Cameron-Hernandez, Sho-Sho Esquiro, and Virgil Ortiz

What inspires you?
Being alive and being able to make others happy is my daily inspiration. Rather it is a friendly smile or a helping hand. The simplest things can change someone's day or life.

The Strange History of the Indian Trade Blanket

The Pendleton discussion continues - 

Previously, Adrienne Keene at Native Appropriations bloggged about it, I wrote a brief post about it, and now Slate.com has posted on the 'strange history' and the 'interesting exchanges' between Pendleton and Native nations, and now, high fashion hipsters.

I don't agree with some of the author's wording, but I've re-posted the entire article below. (Credit: Photograph © Chris Hornbecker. Courtesy Pendleton.)

The Strange History of the Indian Trade Blanket By Julia Felsenthal

Virgil Ortiz Scarves

Click here for the latest from Virgil Ortiz.

Angela DeMontigny at the Calgary Stampede

Angela DeMontigny designed outfits for this year's Calgary Stampede Royalty. The annual Stampede is one of the world's largest rodeos and is held every July. DeMontigny designed the outfits pictured above, along with the jewelled leather belts, cuffs and wristlets for the 2011 Royalty, who included Stampede Queen Jenna Lambert, Stampede Princess Whitney Wilkie, and Stampede Princess Stephanie Gray.

Pilar Agoyo Shirts

Check out the shirt designs that Pilar Agoyo debuted at the Heard Indian Market this past spring:

Photographer Profile | Whitney Minthorn

Check out this video made by Whitney Minthorn, who is a young aspiring fashion photographer from Pendleton, OR. An enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla, Walla Walla, and Cayuse, Minthorn works with and promotes Native models, and he received training from the Oregon College of Art & Craft (Certificate in Photography & Digital Manipulation) and the Institute of American Indian Arts (Studio Arts – Photography).

Giorgio di Sant' Angelo fashion retrospective to open in Phoenix

(Photo: Designer Giorgio di Sant' Angelo and model Barbara Carrera in 1968. Courtesy of Martin Price)

Giorgio di Sant' Angelo fashion retrospective to open in Phoenix

Before global nomads, rich hippies and "gypset" style, there was Giorgio di Sant' Angelo. And this fall, the Phoenix Art Museum's Fashion Design Department will present the first ever retrospective of the designer from Sept. 17 to Feb. 12, 2012. Featuring more than 40 ensembles and accessories, along with sketches and collection books, the show will span the designer's career from the late 1960s to the early 1990s.

Sant' Angelo was born in Italy and raised in Argentina and Brazil, and his multicultural upbringing informed his style. He worked briefly at Walt Disney Studios before moving to New York City. Breaking from the mod, Space Age designs of Pierre Cardin and Courreges in the 1960s, Sant' Angelo's boho collections mixed American Indian, gypsy, Asian and African influences; eclectic fabrics; and rich ornamentation. His celebrity clients included Mick Jagger, Lena Horne and Diana Ross.

"He was highly creative but not as commercial as some of his contemporaries, like Halston," said the exhibition curator Dennita Sewell Thursday in L.A., where she is doing research at the UCLA Library, which houses the designer's paper archives.

It's perfect timing for a Sant' Angelo show, with Native American patterns and Western influences showing up in so many recent collections -- Proenza Schouler, Rodarte and Opening Ceremony to name a few. And it's long overdue, considering how his piled-on, multiculti aesthetic seems to have reverberated through the years, with Tom Ford at Gucci (those feather jeans), John Galliano (the Eskimo, geisha and Pocahontas collections), Anna Sui and Haider Ackermann.

Many of Sant' Angelo's most famous fashion magazine editorials were shot out West. His breakout was in the July 1968 issue of Vogue, which featured an eight-page editorial with his model-muse Veruschka clothed in colorful fabrics, ropes and furs, introducing his signature nomadic chic.

A Look magazine spread from October 1970, shot in the Grand Canyon, was billed as a celebration of "Indian style," with warpaint, feathers, furs and skins. Sewell was able to interview the fashion stylist and model on that monumental shoot for the exhibition, which will also feature never-released, original footage of runway shows.

Throughout the 1970s, Sant' Angelo's clothes became more streamlined. He worked exclusively in jersey, with the body guiding the silhouette. (It's no surprise that Donna Karan was heavily influenced by the designer.) "At that point, he said, 'The costume party is over,' " said Sewell, adding that Sant' Angelo worked with DuPont on developing Lycra and other new stretch fabrics for fashion use. He even did fashion shoots in DuPont factories.

Sant' Angelo died in 1989. Sewell is working with Martin Price, his longtime partner, on the exhibition.

Sant' Angelo was known to say, "I'm not a fashion designer but an artist who works in fashion -- an engineer of color and form." Sounds like another designer with a major museum retrospective right now: Alexander McQueen.

-- Booth Moore

Northwest Coast Eyewear

Many of you have probably seen these by now – either through your fashionista friend, or in the ad pages of Native People’s Magazine, or on the desk of your professor or boss. These are Aya eye glasses, specially designed by world renowned First Nations artist Corrine Hunt.

Hailing from Alert Bay in British Columbia, Hunt has been creating contemporary art that reflects the themes and traditions of her First Nations Kwakiutl and Tlingit heritage for over 2 decades. She even co-designed the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Medals.

A couple of years ago, her designs were added to sunglasses and readers, and now optical glasses, which themselves were designed by Carla D’Angelo, founder of AYA Eyewear.

Native Fashion and Clothing at the Cherokee Art Market

Omigoodness, look at these beautiful pictures from the 2010 Cherokee Art Market. You can view more of their images by visiting the Cherokee Nation Cultural Tourism facebook page. Enjoy!

Orlando Dugi - Feathered Frenzy

Penny Singer

Martha Berry - Honoring the Warriors

Gary B. Custer - Navajo Concho Belt

Lauren Frank

Tahninbaa Naataanii - Navajo Chief Blanket

Margaret Roach Wheeler - Beloved One

Callaloo Parade and the Sexualization of Native American Women

Sexual Violence is a Tool of Conquest
"Sexual assault rates and violence against Native American women did not just drop from the sky. They are a process of history." - Jacqueline Agtuca

So I just got word of another Native-themed Parade from my friend Melissa. She wrote:

I got a call from a woman today who was livid over a Caribana parade that's going to be happening in Toronto in the next month or so where the theme is "Native America." Here's the website http://callaloo.net/. I passed this around work and we're going to try to do something here to bring attention as to why this is wrong and provide some education as to how this image they are putting forth perpetuates violence against Aboriginal women.

Penny Singer Shirt

(Shirt by Penny Singer, photo by Andrea Martinez, graphics by Wolfn Photographies, golden mature eagle by Blue Mountain Wildlife, model Martin Sensmeier, location Tamatslikt Museum in mission Oregon.)

Wendy Ponca's American Goddess

On this Independence Day, I wanted to post this beautiful photo:

It is a picture Wendy Ponca (Osage) shared with me, which features Ponca's body art on the back of a woman.

Floral and applique designs are drawn on her back, representing the many important cultural practices that women carry forth to future generations. The image also brings to mind the many times when Native people used US national holidays as opportunities to continue their practices (under the guise of patriotism), especially during the Assimilation and Reservation eras in which several traditions were outlawed. The Fourth of July was once such holiday. This image captures that moment when the guise has been dropped, and the true self revealed.

Article | Margaret Roach Wheeler Inspired by Heritage

Below is a really neat article (that I've edited slightly, so click the link at the bottom to read the full article) about Margaret Roach Wheeler. She's a fiber artist and clothing designer, and her work exemplifies how contemporary Native fashion designers look to storytelling traditions as sources of inspiration to create new garments. Many Native women of the past also looked to stories as a source of creativity, and I'm proud to see designers such as Wheeler who continue this legacy.

Fiber artist's Native American heritage inspires her collections
By JASON ASHLEY WRIGHT World Scene Writer

Margaret Roach Wheeler is a storyteller.

She doesn't rely on the written word or spoken prose, but fabric, literally weaving a tale.

A fiber artist based in Joplin, Mo., Wheeler is the owner and designer of Mahota Handwovens, a beautiful collection of elaborate garments inspired by her Native American ancestry - specifically, her Chickasaw-Choctaw roots.

"I have pieces that are very emotional," she said during a phone interview, alluding to garment tributes she's made to her mother and father.