Fashions by designer Himikalas Pamela Baker, owner of Touch of Culture/TOC Legends House of Design, will walk the runway during SWAIA Native Fashion Week.
Jamie Schulze is executive director of the Southwest Association for Indian Arts, which has partnered with Vancouver Indigenous Fashion Week for its second spring fashion week.
Fashions by designer Himikalas Pamela Baker, owner of Touch of Culture/TOC Legends House of Design, will walk the runway during SWAIA Native Fashion Week.
Tira Howard
Designs by Randi Nelson can be seen on the runway in both upcoming Native Fashion Week events.
It’s about to get haute in Santa Fe, as Native Fashion Week [squared] events bring a bevy of Indigenous designers and models to town in a celebration of and to amplify Native representation in the fashion industry.
SWAIA and Santa Fe fashion maven Amber-Dawn Bear Robe have each attached their visions to separate showcases of artistry and innovation among established and emerging creatives, with runway shows, panels, pop-up shops, and more. In order to plan your fashion week experience, we’ve provided a preview of what’s on tap ahead of our full coverage in the May 9 edition of Pasatiempo.
The Southwest Association for Indian Arts is the leading force behind several major annual Indigenous events in Santa Fe, starting with the Indian Market that takes place every August and is now in its 103rd year.
SWAIA Native Fashion Week, now in its second year as a separate event in May, is only the organization’s latest initiative that SWAIA Executive Director Jamie Schulze (Northern Cheyenne/Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate) and her team hope will become just as monumental in Santa Fe as SWAIA’s other events.
SWAIA was already promoting and showcasing Indigenous fashion during Indian Market, but by focusing a week only on Indigenous fashion, the organization was able to provide additional opportunities to Indigenous designers and creatives and give their voices a platform for storytelling and community expression.
Jamie Schulze is executive director of the Southwest Association for Indian Arts, which has partnered with Vancouver Indigenous Fashion Week for its second spring fashion week.
Tira Howard
This year, SWAIA partnered with the Vancouver Indigenous Fashion Week, founded in 2017 by Joleen Mitton (Plains Cree from the Sawridge Nation) and Caroline Phelps (Nuu Chah Nulth from Ahousaht/Sto:Lo from Katzie / Hawaiian Heritage). “They [Mitton and Phelps] responded to our call and brought their team forward to help us, and to share knowledge and information with us as partners,” says Schulze.
The 26 designers at this year’s SWAIA Native Fashion Week offer not only a variety of styles and materials — from haute couture and streetwear, regalia to accessories — but also a mix of life and creative experiences.
Patricia Michaels (Taos Pueblo) of PM Waterlily, the darling of the Native fashion industry with four decades worth of experience in the industry, will close this year’s final runway show on May 11. Livia Manywounds (Blackfoot Woman from the Tsuut’ina [Dene] and Siksika [Blackfoot] Nations in Southern Alberta) of Dancing Storms Designs, will open it on May 9.
“I’m just excited to have the designers and youth and interns come together,” Schulze says, “to see the sharing of knowledge in this community, and to see the amazing expression of storytelling from all of these designers.”
This year’s SWAIA Native Fashion Week events are divided into two groupings: Industry Day on Thursday, May 8, at La Fonda on the Plaza with panels and in-store activations in downtown Santa Fe — and a fashion media party in the evening at the Governor’s Mansion — followed by three days of fashion shows at the Santa Fe Community Convention Center. ◀
