Hello there 🙂
We are experiencing a global pandemic that disproportionately affects indigenous communities. And as the country prepares to celebrate Thanksgiving this week, it would not be appropriate not to celebrate that fellowship while we look at the historical significance of the holiday. In the spirit of celebration, we are happy to introduce the new guard of local fashion and jewelry brands. Each of the seven labels curated here caught the attention of our editors.
Orenda Tribe's unique vintage and upcycling pieces make it easy to feel good again while shopping, while Shy Natives, a small lingerie brand founded by two sisters, aims to help recreate the sensuality of Native define and regain peoples. These are just a few examples of emerging talent that caught our eye. We spoke to the designers listed below about their influences and what their indigenous heritage means to their design. Find out in advance what makes each one special and (hopefully) shop for their covetable creations.
What is your full name and what tribe are you from?
My name is Amy Yeung. I am part of the Diné (Navajo) tribe.
How would you describe your brand to someone who is not familiar?
Orenda Tribe is a sustainable upcycling brand owned by Diné Womxn. We are dedicated to creating handcrafted, unique, restored and reused vintage products that are made using sustainable methods. Since COVID-19, we have focused on providing vital assistance to our Diné communities.
What made you decide to start your brand?
My daughter Lily. I worked fast and had that “aha” moment realizing I needed to be a better mom to my child and shifting my career from creating corporate assets and focusing back on a small sustainable design process that my community did gave something back. I wanted to leave a legacy for my daughter, inspire her to spread love and shine light.
Has your indigenous background influenced your approach to jewelry and design? If so, how?
Since returning home to my ancestral lands, I wake up at sunrise, set my intentions, and flow through the day in relation to the earth and the sky. I hear. Be still and the earth will speak to you. I have realigned my life to provide sustainable solutions to my Diné tribe and I feel like my ancestors are leading me on this path of healing. So the “design” is a moving meditation of color and spirit, inspired by a deep connection I feel with my relatives.
How do you hope your brand will give something back to your community?
Yes, we have realigned our brand to provide vital help to our DinĂ© communities in need since the beginning of COVID 19. We have supplied 43,000 food / grooming kits for our children from the Nááts & # 39; Ăilid project, with World Central Kitchen supplying over a million meals for our little ones. We raised 200,000 funds for Adabi Healing Shelter, a home for domestic violence and sexual assault that has lost funding. We have raised 150,000 funds for NDN Collective for Critical Aid. And 245,000 were raised for our SPREAD LOVE + SHINE LIGHT auction, which we convert into weekly critical help.
What is your full name and what tribe are you from?
My name is Warren Steven Scott. I am part of the Nlaka & # 39; pamux Nation and a member of the Boothroyd First Nation, which is located in what is now British Columbia.
How would you describe your brand to someone who is not familiar?
Contemporary indigenous design; Earrings for indigenous people and our allies – earrings that anyone can wear.
What made you decide to start your brand?
It all started with the first Indigenous Fashion Week in Toronto in 2018, when I showed my first collection together with 23 other designers. Toronto, like many cities, had a few different fashion weeks and I had considered attending but never felt compelled to actually attend. When the IFWTO was founded, it was no longer about wanting to be part of a fashion week – this was the moment, the platform, to really explore my indigenousness within fashion. Here my work would be modeled by indigenous models, produced by an indigenous team and presented together with other indigenous designers and makers. It was more of a community than an event.
Has your indigenous background influenced your approach to jewelry and design? If so, how?
Absolutely. The acrylic shapes shown in my jewelry – the ovoid, the crescent moon, the trine – are inspired by the basic motifs and figures of indigenous art from the Pacific Northwest. Some may associate these shapes with those depicted in carvings and totem poles. These shapes, along with important design mentalities such as the use of shapes and positive and negative space, shaped my jewelry designs. I wanted to present these motifs in the core of their sensitivity to prove their beauty, timelessness and familiarity. I also wanted to bring them modernity and explored this through the material. All earrings are made of laser cut acrylic and are very light for a statement earring.
How do you hope your brand will give something back to your community?
At first these earrings were really an exploration for me; a way to discover the kind of art or design that I could create with my indigenousness as a foundation. Indigenous art is often relegated to another time, history, and it feels that way because we have lost so much through acts of assimilation throughout history – our land, our voice, our culture. I wanted to reconnect with these things that we lost and I decided to do that through art and design. My community of indigenous customers around the world share the same need for reconnection and are very proud and delighted too. I would also say that I felt this sense of support from our allies too. I hope my jewelry can be part of that pride – a celebration of our past and a nod to the future of indigenous design.
What is your full name and what tribe are you from?
Urban Native Era was founded by Joey Montoya, Lipan Apache. Our small team of five consists of indigenous and non-indigenous peoples from all over Turtle Island (North America).
How would you describe your brand to someone who is not familiar?
Urban Native Era is like nothing else in the industry. An indigenous brand with equal parts design and content of clothing. A brand that relates to the indigenous community and is a source for the indigenous perspective on events that are taking place today, today and in the past. – – Hud Oberly, creative director
What made you decide to start your brand?
In my freshman year of college, I noted a lack of visibility regarding indigenous issues and was inspired by indigenous sovereignty movements like Idle No More to take awareness-raising measures by providing indigenous peoples and allies with an accessible way to raise indigenous voices . – – Joey Montaya
Has your indigenous background influenced your approach to jewelry and design? If so, how?
We design clothes based on a variety of things. Influences can come from something I do or see in my Osage culture, or something we see in popular streetwear trends today. It's really different in every piece and in every design. This combination of worlds makes Urban Native Era so unique and relatable. "- Hud Oberly
How do you hope your brand will give something back to your community?
Community has always been the center of the brand. We do our best to empower indigenous-led movements, organizations and people. This year we teamed up to support Indigenous graduates by bringing out a special graduation t-shirt, knowing this was going to be a strange year for most graduates. All proceeds from the shirt went to the American Indian Graduate Center to support Indigenous students. "- Joey Montoya
What is your full name and which tribe do you belong to?
Madison Ann Craig and Jordan Ann Craig and we are Northern Cheyenne.
How would you describe your brand to someone who is not familiar?
We are a domestic brand for lingerie, clothing and accessories. We focus on comfy, flirty pieces to make all people uplift.
What made you decide to start your brand?
It all started with creating the perfect supportive bralette. Madi struggled to find a matching bralette in the stores and turned to her sewing machine to find the perfect pattern and fit. Madi started sewing bralettes for Jordan and friends and developed her skills as a self-taught fashion designer. Jordan is passionate about film photography, design, and vintage aesthetics. Together we started to work together and document Madi's beautiful creations. We recognized the need for high quality fit and underwear designed by Indigenes and transformed our creative hobby into a beautiful, high quality and inspiring brand.
Has your indigenous background influenced your approach to fashion and design? If so, how?
Being indigenous women is fundamental to our brand. Indigenous women have been oversexualized for far too long, and Shy Natives is a platform for individuals to express themselves freely. We take back our sensuality and offer a safe community in which people can feel comfortable, sexy and empowered.
How do you hope Shy Natives will give something back to your community?
Shy Natives would like to contribute to redefining and regaining the sensuality of the indigenous people through our products, photography and community. We would like to expand to support other Indigenous-led movements and nonprofits as well, particularly with regards to sex education, missing and murdered Indigenous women, and aid currently desperate
What is your full name and what tribe are you from?
My name is Bethany Yellowtail. I grew up on the Crow Indian Reservation (Apsaalooke Nation) and am a registered member of the Northern Cheyenne Nation. Both of the tribes I come from are in southeast Montana.
How would you describe your brand to someone who is not familiar?
B.Yellowtail is a Native American-owned and operated fashion brand and retailer that specializes in storytelling through wearable cultural art.
Our women's clothing is designed in-house by local designers #byellowtailcollective serves as a branding initiative in support of Native American, First Nations and Indigenous creators' entrepreneurship.
With tradition and culture at the center of our actions, we have set ourselves the goal of sharing authentic indigenous creativity with the world while at the same time prioritizing economic opportunities for the first peoples of indigenous North America.
What made you decide to start your brand?
I always wanted to have my own fashion brand. I've dreamed about it since I was a teenager. I learned to sew when I was very young thanks to my grandmother and aunt. I also started designing clothes in my 7th grade home economics class. After graduating from design school and entering the fashion industry, I understood my role and my desire to run my dream company, which is now B.YELLOWTAIL.
At the beginning of my fashion career, I worked for various brands that often adopted Native American designs. At the time, I was a beginner with no power or say, but that's when I realized I wanted to create a brand that really represented the culture, stories, and people I come from. I wanted to see myself in a brand for once and create a platform that the indigenous people were proud of and that respectfully and authentically support the community I love and to which I belong.
Has your indigenous background influenced your approach to jewelry and design? If so, how?
Absolutely, my background has influenced everything about how I do business, what inspires me and who I am responsible to.
Native American culture is not a thing of the past, it is happening and developing. Not only am I inspired and influenced by my cultural heritage, stories, ancestral stories, and designs from my direct family lineage, but I am also inspired and motivated by the Native American culture that is happening and developing all around us.
I'm directly connected to my tribal communities (Northern Cheyenne and Crow) and incredibly dedicated, so the B.YELLOWTAIL brand naturally has a strong pulse and a strong sense of responsibility to also raise awareness, especially on issues that are relevant to our people are most urgent.
How do you hope your brand will give something back to your community?
Yes, our platform, the B.Yellowtail collective, which supports indigenous entrepreneurs, was created to create economic opportunities for cultural artists. Most of our artists are paid on a shipment basis and receive 70% of profit from retail sales while we take 30%. We intend to use our platform to empower and support the entrepreneurship of our employees.
We are also very active in our tribal community. During the pandemic, we donated well over 20,000 cloth masks and made 40,000 more at low cost to prioritize various nations and tribal grassroots groups and to ensure our populations have PPE during the pandemic. We currently have a program through our branded mask sales which is a buy-one-donate-one initiative as a long-haul solution.
Ataumbi Metals' creations are truly otherworldly. Designer Keri Ataumbi, who grew up on Wyoming's Wind River Reservation, attributes her passion for jewelry making to her family's creative background. "The purpose of jewelry is not just jewelry," Ataumbi says on her brand's website. "It contains information that you change when you put it on."
Given that much of the jewelry industry relies on mass production, their designs take a significantly slower approach, with each piece not only being handcrafted but using traditional Kiowa imagery and materials to construct a contemporary narrative that embodies the Traditions from Ataumbis indigenous background with a contemporary appearance combines colorful stone rings and sculptural metal chains that feel at home today.
What is your full name and what tribe are you from?
Korina Emmerich. I am part of the Puyallup tribe.
How would you describe your brand to someone who is not familiar?
I built my Brooklyn-based brand, EMME, on the backbone of expression, art, and culture. Management of the responsibility to understand art and design as a unit and to integrate them into your brand history. It has been known that my colorful work reflects my indigenous heritage, which comes from the Coast Salish Territory, the Puyallup tribe. With a strong focus on social and climatic justice, we talk about the responsibility and accountability of industry: We are actively working to uncover and dismantle systems of oppression and to question colonial mindsets.
Items are made to order in our Brooklyn, New York studio in the Occupied Territories of Canarsie. Most items are made with upcycling, recycling and all natural materials that take into account the life cycle of a garment from manufacture to biodegradation. The stock is limited.
What made you decide to start your brand?
I am blessed to come from a really creative family. My dad was an art teacher when I was growing up and I knew from a young age that I wanted to be an artist, but I was still exploring what my medium would be.
The glamor of the 90s designers still resonates with me, watching the art-driven fashions of some of the greats. I plastered my walls with pictures of McQueen, Versace, Gucci, etc. I really wanted to be part of this world, leave myself behind and fit into this glamorous lifestyle that seemed out of reach for a child like me.
The first fully finished piece of clothing I made was my 9th grade jingle dress regalia. The jingle dress, also known as the healing or prayer dress, consists of a brightly colored primer with rolled tobacco caps that create jingles. As you dance, each jingle has its own prayer, and the sound of the jingles triggers the prayers. During the creation of this regalia, I knew that fashion should be my medium.
EMME was born out of a desire to create an elevated visual representation of my myriad of inspirations that combine my indigenous and contemporary art influences. While the brand remains focused on ethics and sustainability.
The most important statement I hold at the helm of EMME is: "The success of one person is not worth the disadvantage of many."
Has your indigenous background influenced your approach to jewelry and design? If so, how?
I believe that indigenous designers are inherently sustainable because we were raised to have a stronger connection with the earth and its possibilities. I've always been taught not to take more than you need. To always keep future generations in mind in any act or inaction you take. We have an understanding of the ecology, the coexistence and the dependency of all living beings on earth, summarized under the term “all my relationships”. Recognizing the principles of equality, harmony and unity, we inherently created the idea of ​​“no waste” in traditional practices such as hunting and fishing: we use every part of an animal to provide food, clothing, tools, and so on. Everything that the earth offers is received with the greatest respect and gratitude.
How do you hope your brand will give something back to your community?
During this time, EMME has raised funds for needy communities and worked to assign masks and PPE to elders and community members.
I myself work in the Indigenous Kinship Collective, a community of indigenous women, femmes and gender specific folx who gather in occupied Lenapehoking (NYC) to honor themselves and our relatives through art, activism, education and representation.
We work to support our communities through mutual aid, resource allocation, direct action, and goods distribution initiatives.
Next up, 9 popular fashion trends that have roots in Latin American culture.
