The National Museum of the American Indian is showing contemporary Native American fashion designs in an exhibition called “Native Fashion Now,” according to the New York Post. The exhibition will feature almost 70 designers’ work and will stay open until Sept. 4. The Salem, Mass. based Peabody Essex Museum organized the showing.
Karen Kramer, the museum curator, said that the fashion exhibition will show a side of Native art that isn’t just the clichéd buckskins and headdresses.
The designs featured draw inspiration from traditional Native cultures and blend them with the contemporary while incorporating elements of other cultures. This creates a theme of cultural conversation in the exhibition. This theme is particularly evident in pieces like gowns by Wendy Ponca, which combines eagle feathers and crystals with silver Mylar and glass from space shuttles.
The collection includes items like Christian Louboutin boots beaded by artist Jamie Okuma, or artist Pilar Agoyo’s strapless vinyl gown with black and red patterns reminiscent of Native textiles. A masked owl headpiece complete with a beak matches to a cape in muted brown and red. A pair of skateboards with birds displays next to a black jacket with a pink ruff and pom poms.
Other pieces in the exhibition are bodycon and midi dresses with Native-inspired patterns, a fringed poncho, and a trained gown with gold, feathers and porcupine quills by Orlando Dugi, a Navajo designer.
The creative range of the clothing featured includes tees, headdresses, and works inspired by ’60’s fashion. There are even parasols.
Designer Bethany Yellowtail, who works from Los Angeles and whose resume includes work at BCBG, created dresses that took inspiration from Cheyenne culture, adding elk teeth to the designs.
Yellowtail said that the exhibition shows the diversity in Native American thought. She added that she hopes the exhibition will dismantle stereotypes propagated in entertainment and fashion by showing the truth.
Note: The featured image is a Navajo dress from the Heard Museum and does not appear in the “Native Fashion Now” exhibition.