Beyond Buckskin in Elle Canada

If you told me last year that my name would be mentioned in an issue of Elle Magazine, I would have probably smiled, looked to the right, and thought "That would be amazing."

If you told me this same thing 5 years ago when I was deep in the mix of writing my doctoral dissertation on fashion (and heavily critiquing fashion magazines in the process), I would have thought you had lost your mind. Ten years ago? I would have inquired what you were smoking.

In general, mainstream fashion magazines have historically shown little interest in featuring alternative perspectives on the fashion industry. The bodies represented in fashion magazines are overwhelmingly homogeneous.

Upcoming Film | LA Fashion and Culture

Upcoming film

Hawaii Sovereignty Filmmaker now turns camera on Fashion Culture in Los Angeles.

One of the goals of "Hawaii A Voice For Sovereignty" by filmmaker Catherine Bauknight and the Native Hawaiian people, is to enlighten the world of the truth of Hawai'i Nei.

"Connecting Cultures" is the core vision of Award-winning filmmaker Catherine Bauknight, who has started filming a documentary about Los Angeles fashion and culture. The project is Executive Produced by Fashion Los Angeles, the new global platform for Los Angeles fashion. This cutting edge documentary will launch at the first official Fashion Los Angeles, forFall/Winter 2011 collections, February 1-7, 2011. We will find out why Los Angeles is becoming the hub for fashion in the US, how it relates to history, film, and the indigenous people who are located here including the Native Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Hispanic cultures."

Bauknight says "We are continuing the unity of understanding culture through fashion in Los Angeles. Cultures throughout the world are based here for a reason.

The film will explore the culture of fashion through intimate interviews and insights into the lifestyles and processes of designers, the inspirations for their work, and the community of people who are behind the scenes to increase the communication and support of the world of fashion in Los Angeles, as Fashion Los Angeles creates a global platform.

The making of the documentary will develop a stage for social communication through webisodes, and the internet. This venue of documentation and webisodes will build and connect the community of Los Angeles and fashion as awareness of each grows. The cultural, economic, and social connection within the two communities will be bridged during this process of documentation of growth, creating a greater sense of identity for Los Angeles today and historically through the voices of the people.

"Our journey through the history and future of fashion will be an extraordinary experience through this documentary film" says Bauknight. The premiere will be held at Fashion Los Angeles, between February 1-7, 2011. The documentary will then travel throughout the world to be screened at film festivals.

For more information about the film please contact:
Jeff Warrington.
press@fashionweek.la
or
Catherine Bauknight
Othila Media Productions
cbauknight@othilamedia.com
www.catherinebauknight.com

Catherine Bauknight
Anna - Catawba Tribe
Photograph

Exhibit | POP! Popular Culture in American Indian Art

The Heard Museum in Phoenix Arizona will be opening a new exhibit on April 16, 2010. The exhibit, POP! POPULAR CULTURE IN AMERICAN INDIAN ART, runs through April 2011.

The exhibit displays how pop culture and innovation collide with traditional art forms and cultures in artwork that reflects contemporary issues and imagery in an often comedic, tongue-in-cheek way. Fashion, graffiti art, comics, pottery and beadwork are formats for contemporary American Indian artists who incorporate imagery from popular culture into their work.

Beadworker and fashion designer Marcus Amerman will be one of the artists featured in the exhibit.

And peep these shoes by Paula Rasmus-Dede (Aleut, b. 1946): "Clearly Red Hot Mama," 2010