A few things set Juneau\u2019s first ever Celebration fashion show apart from ones often seen in media: the host spoke in Tlingit, a Native dancer opened the show and designs had history woven into their fabrics.<\/p>\n
But one thing was the same \u2014 the clothes were incredible.<\/p>\n
Sleek lines on gowns, shimmering fabrics and runway poses wowed the small crowd in the sold out venue, the Shuk\u00e1 H\u00edt (clan house) in the Walter Soboleff Building on Friday evening. Garments, jewelry and body art by 18 Native designers were on display by models who did much more than just walk down the runway.<\/p>\n
Model Chris Bryant took the stage with apparel by internationally acclaimed Haida designer Dorothy Grant, whose work was recently seen on the Oscars red carpet by actor Duane E. Howard. Bryant posed in Native dance positions while wearing modern business attire \u2014 black pants with a white button up \u2014 accented with an indigenous-inspired vest.<\/p>\n
It was a seemingly simple way of incorporating Native style into mainstream life, said Sealaska Vice Chair Jackie Pata.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot only is our culture special to us when we come to Celebration or when we put on our special regalia during ceremonies, but . . . we are Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian every day,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Work by Pata was also featured Friday night \u2014 a school uniform modeled by the young Hannah Watts was a crowd favorite. Watts\u2019 uniform, complete with skin-stitched trimmings and buttons with the Raven moiety, was designed to take her \u201cfrom classroom to dance practice,\u201d said Lance Twitchell, the night\u2019s emcee. The outfit was inspired by what the designer wishes children in boarding schools would have been allowed to wear back when Native culture was forced out of the classroom.<\/p>\n
Other styles also told stories, such as Kwakiutl and Squamish designer Pam Baker\u2019s \u201cNew Eagle\u201d dress modeled by Brittinie Read. The black and white garment was crafted in a way to model an Eagle flying, telling the story of the bird that flies closest to its creator. Read \u201cflew\u201d down the runway in the dress with white feathers in her hair, motioning her arms as if taking flight.<\/p>\n
Emcee Twitchell told the crowd that although all the design elements and the hard work behind them should be celebrated, what was most important that evening was the audience takeaway.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the really important elements is you and your reaction to what you\u2019re seeing,\u201d he said. \u201cEven in the smallest event, we lift each other up and it just becomes contagious.\u201d<\/p>\n
Notable Tlingit weaver Clarissa Rizal was among Friday\u2019s fashion show guests. She spoke afterward to the importance of lifting others through art. She was able to see work by her daughter Lily Hope and her sister Deanna Lampe displayed, and other pieces modeled by another daughter Ursala Rose. It was a family affair in many ways \u2014 for her immediate loved ones and for the tribe \u2014 and that\u2019s what she said matters most in the end.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a celebration of one another,\u201d Rizal said. \u201cWhen you please the Native community, when you please your own people, then you know you\u2019ve done well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rizal went on to say that the fashion seen Friday night has the power to inspire Native and non-Native artists alike, and what was seen in the Shuk\u00e1 H\u00edt was \u201cjust the beginning\u201d of a Native couture expansion.<\/p>\n
Guest Miranda Belarde-Lewis, a professor and curator visiting from Seattle, summarized the evening\u2019s show as \u201cstunning,\u201d and something Natives and non-Natives can all get excited about.<\/p>\n
A Tlingit and Zuni Native herself, she said she wears Native jewelry in her daily life because she is Native every day. She also said she\u2019s happy to see couture hit Juneau\u2019s Celebration scene for the first time because fashion has the ability to shift minds.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you can learn a little bit about a Native culture by a scarf or jewelry or a design in clothing, then hopefully that sparks awareness and compassion and a recognition of our humanity,\u201d Belarde-Lewis said. \u201cThere are people behind these designs.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 Contact reporter Paula Ann Solis at 523-2272 or paula.solis@juneauempire.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A few things set Juneau\u2019s first ever Celebration fashion show apart from ones often seen in media: the host spoke in Tlingit, a Native dancer opened the show and designs had history woven into their fabrics. But one thing was the same \u2014 the clothes were incredible. Sleek lines on gowns, shimmering fabrics and runway […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":18520,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[75],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-18519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18519"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=18519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}