Power Walk
The 2019 Indian Market Haute Couture Fashion show celebrates the ingenuity and fortitude of Native women and designers one garment at a time.
SANTA FE, NM
On August 18, the Santa Fe Community Center’s 17,000-square-foot ballroom will be abuzz with models, fashion lovers and top Native American fashion designers alike for the 2019 Indian Market Haute Couture Fashion Show. The event—which includes a VIP party with hors d’oeuvres, champagne, music and flowers, as well as select seating for VIP ticket holders—will feature collections from Korina Emmerich (EMME), Pamela Baker, Donna and Jason Brown (Decontie & Brown), Lesley Hampton, Catherine Blackburn, Patricia Michaels, Shayne Watson, Sho Sho Esquiro, Delina White (Iamanishinaabe), and Jordan and Madison Craig (Shy Natives).
Many of the collections in the fashion show embody this year’s market theme, which celebrates the strength and resilience of Indigenous women.
“The show reflects this year’s theme by highlighting Indigenous women designers who create statement work,” says fashion show producer Amber-dawn Bear Robe. “A great example is Catherine Blackburn’s New Age Warriors line, [which] will make its American premiere. Body positivity and diversity is highlighted with models of diversity in shapes, sizes, colors and ages. I am also thrilled to announce that Shandien Larance, who is on sabbatical from Cirque Du Soleil, will be opening the show this year.”
As part of her collection Resilience, Michaels has created five dresses in honor of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. Resilience is inspired by both the resilience of Native women, as well as “nature, pottery, light, texture and lines” and features garments that are a blend of “haute couture, digital mixed media, large silhouettes, bias-cut gowns and long jackets.”
Hampton, who is participating in the Indian Market Haute Couture Fashion Show for the first time this year, plans on showing her spring/summer 2020 collection, The Preface, which will include bridal inspired evening wear, occasion wear and separates.
“Being a Canadian artist coming to Santa Fe to showcase with SWAIA is an incredible opportunity to connect with other Indigenous talents, and showcasing as a group on this great platform shows our strength within the fashion community and allows our messaging and stories to reach a further audience,” she
says. “I’m excited to view other designers’ work, learn from them, and understand their designs and stories.”
Bear Robe shares the same sentiment as Hampton. “A fabulous, unique style created by each designer makes for an exciting and unexpected show every year,” she says. “I look most forward to seeing all the new fashion created specifically for the SWAIA fashion show and to see Blackburn’s New Age Warriors line in person. Also, to have Sivan Rose, who was a SWAIA model a couple years ago, walk for Patricia Michaels... Generally, the whole thing!”