Native American designers create their own space in fashion


Pictured is the work of Designs by Della, one of the designers that will be featured during the fashion show.

A special gathering held annually by the Sycuan band of the Kumeyaay Nation, the annual Sycuan pow wow festival is being held from September 9 to 11 and features hundreds of Native Americans from various tribes in North America. In celebration of its 33rd year, Native American designers will showcase their jewelry and apparel designs at the first Sycuan Fashion Show on September 8 at 7:00 pm at Sycuan Casino Resort’s Retreat Pool and Cabanas . This year’s fashion show designers include Osamuskwasis, Ro Tree, Ashley Garcia, Disa Tatoosis, JD Customs, Designs by Della, Benjamin Leedom, Cheyleen, Yazzie, Collins Provost-Fields, Aresta Tsosie Paddock, KM Originals and more.

Sycuan tribal member Angelica Labrake said the annual pow wow competition is open to the public so they can see traditional dancing, drum circles and singers compete during the three-day event.

“It’s a place to gather, to have fun, to compete,” she said. “The pow wow is really a ceremony in the sacred circle. One of the competitions is the women’s tinsel competition, and when you dance in that circle it’s healing people.”

Labrake said another tradition is the peon game, which begins at dusk, often lasting until the early hours of the morning.

“Peon is a gambling game with four men on each side,” she said. “They sing songs and have two colored bones on a string in each hand with a fire in the middle. The other team tries to find what color each talking hand is in Kumeyaay. If they think it right, they take those dice, take a pawn stick, and keep going until all the pawn sticks are on one side and that team wins.”

Labrake created the fashion show after she and her aunt thought it would be a powerful addition to the annual pow wow.

“We want to shine a light on Native American designers, and it’s not just Native. We have opened it up to other tribal designers from North America. First, I wanted to build trust in our community,” she said. “We all come from different sizes. We all come from different places in North America. We all look different. We are all mixed up now. Growing up, I never had anyone who looked like me on runways or in magazines, and I think that kept my self-esteem from growing. I want this fashion show to be a catalyst to inspire our youth. They dream of becoming models even if they look like me. I can design clothes.”

Labrake said the fashion show features Native American designers, Native hair and makeup, jewelry. She said her videographers, backstage crew and models are all Native American.

“We’re all different sizes, different looks,” she said. “I really wanted to emphasize to young people that you can be confident in who you are and be just as confident as men. Men are confident with their traditional long hair. I want them to see know that they can rock that long hair on the runway.”

The fashion show is a ticketed event, separate from the free three-day pow wow open to the public.

To purchase fashion show tickets, visit sycuanfashionshow. yapsody.com. Must be 21+ to participate in event.

Native American designers create their own space in fashion




Source link

Related posts

Leave a Comment

fifteen − two =