African Fashion, Global Style by Victoria L. RovineAfrican Fashion, Global Style provides a lively look at fashion, international networks of style, material culture, and the world of African aesthetic expression. Victoria L. Rovine introduces fashion designers whose work reflects African histories and cultures both conceptually and stylistically, and demonstrates that dress styles associated with indigenous cultures may have all the hallmarks of high fashion. Taking readers into the complexities of influence and inspiration manifested through fashion, this book highlights the visually appealing, widely accessible, and highly adaptable styles of African dress that flourish on the global fashion market.
Decolonizing Methodologies by Linda Tuhiwai SmithTo the colonized, the term 'research' is conflated with European colonialism; the ways in which academic research has been implicated in the throes of imperialism remains a painful memory. This essential volume explores intersections of imperialism and research - specifically, the ways in which imperialism is embedded in disciplines of knowledge and tradition as 'regimes of truth.' Concepts such as 'discovery' and 'claiming' are discussed and an argument presented that the decolonization of research methods will help to reclaim control over indigenous ways of knowing and being. Now in its eagerly awaited third edition, this bestselling book includes a co-written introduction features contributions from indigenous scholars on the book's continued relevance to current research. It also features a chapter with twenty-five indigenous projects and a collection of poetry.
Call Number: eBook
ISBN: 9781786998132
Publication Date: 2021
The Power of Style by Christian AllaireStyle is not just the clothes on our backs--it is self-expression, representation, and transformation. As a fashion-obsessed Ojibwe teen, Christian Allaire rarely saw anyone that looked like him in the magazines or movies he sought out for inspiration. Now the Fashion and Style Writer for Vogue, he is working to change that--because clothes are never just clothes. Men's heels are a statement of pride in the face of LGTBQ+ discrimination, while ribbon shirts honor Indigenous ancestors and keep culture alive. Allaire takes the reader through boldly designed chapters to discuss additional topics like cosplay, make up, hijabs, and hair, probing the connections between fashion and history, culture, politics, and social justice. *A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
Call Number: eBook
ISBN: 9781773214900
Publication Date: 2021
Project 562 by Matika WilburA photographic and narrative celebration of contemporary Native American life and cultures, alongside an in-depth examination of issues that Native people face, by celebrated photographer and storyteller Matika Wilbur of the Swinomish and Tulalip Tribes. "This book is too important to miss. It is a vast, sprawling look at who we are as Indigenous people in these United States."--Tommy Orange (Cheyenne and Arapaho), author of There There In 2012, Matika Wilbur sold everything in her Seattle apartment and set out on a Kickstarter-funded pursuit to visit, engage, and photograph people from what were then the 562 federally recognized Native American Tribal Nations. Over the next decade, she traveled six hundred thousand miles across fifty states--from Seminole country (now known as the Everglades) to Inuit territory (now known as the Bering Sea)--to meet, interview, and photograph hundreds of Indigenous people. The body of work Wilbur created serves to counteract the one-dimensional and archaic stereotypes of Native people in mainstream media and offers justice to the richness, diversity, and lived experiences of Indian Country. The culmination of this decade-long art and storytelling endeavor, Project 562 is a peerless, sweeping, and moving love letter to Indigenous Americans, containing hundreds of stunning portraits and compelling personal narratives of contemporary Native people--all photographed in clothing, poses, and locations of their choosing. Their narratives touch on personal and cultural identity as well as issues of media representation, sovereignty, faith, family, the protection of sacred sites, subsistence living, traditional knowledge-keeping, land stewardship, language preservation, advocacy, education, the arts, and more. A vital contribution from an incomparable artist, Project 562 inspires, educates, and truly changes the way we see Native America.
Call Number: eBook
ISBN: 9781984859525
Publication Date: 2023
Regulating Style by Kedron ThomasFashion knockoffs are everywhere. Even in the out-of-the-way markets of highland Guatemala, fake branded clothes offer a cheap, stylish alternative for people who cannot afford high-priced originals. Fashion companies have taken notice, ensuring that international trade agreements include stronger intellectual property protections to prevent brand "piracy." In Regulating Style, Kedron Thomas approaches the fashion industry from the perspective of indigenous Maya people who make and sell knockoffs, asking why they copy and wear popular brands, how they interact with legal frameworks and state institutions that criminalize their livelihood, and what is really at stake for fashion companies in the global regulation of style.
Curating a fashion exhibition centred on Black women: Combatting individual and systemic oppression at land-grant university fashion museumsIn 2020, we curated and mounted an exhibition at the Iowa State University Textiles and Clothing Museum that centred Black women college students' fashion. We explored how our participants negotiated their Black and activist identities through dress while on a predominately white campus and surrounding community in the Midwestern United States. In this article, we critically analyse how we, as curators, confronted and rejected white supremacy and were compelled to provide additional labour while curating due to systemic racism. Throughout the curation and installation processes, we challenged numerous forms of oppression, for example: a lack of collected objects representing Black women's dress practices; assumptions that Black women engage in illegal activities; a dearth of dress forms coordinating with black and brown skin tones. The supplementary work, which included additional time, financial resources, intellectual and emotional labour, is one way that compulsory whiteness is upheld in fashion museums. Curators who engage in social justice initiatives are disadvantaged by ongoing institutional racism, which is prevalent in a plethora of universities in the United States; the focus of this article is predominately white, land-grant institutions. We acknowledge that structural inequities museum curators contend with when claiming space for marginalized identities are prevalent, but can be overcome, despite the hegemony of the silencing and oppression of Black people. We call for a radical shift in fashion museums and curricula.
Feeling Appropriately: On Fashion Copyright Talk and CopynormsThis essay examines the contradictory politics around the appropriation of cultural material in the fashion world. While fashion does not qualify for copyright protection, a common set of copynorms based on socially accepted racial constructions of authorship, originality, creative property, and cultural impropriety define, adjudicate, and support some fashion-copying practices while stigmatizing others. This essay begins with a historical perspective of fashion copynorms. It then examines one case study — a dispute between a small ecoconscious design firm, Feral Childe, and a large clothing store, Forever 21 — to demonstrate how cultural frameworks and values about fashion copying are informed by and contribute to racial biases and blind spots.
Material Culture, Indigeneity, and Temporality: The Textile as Legal SubjectAnthropological and ethnographic scholarship examining textiles in Mesoamerica has traditionally focused on gender, cultural continuity, space/place, its semiotics, and its reproduction of the universe. Literary studies approaches interpret this corpus as another form of literacy, discourse, and ontologies. Recently in Indigenous movements, weaving and textiles have acquired a more politicized edge. In 2019, the question of textiles inspired a flurry of discussions around intellectual property, and, especially, copyrights. This article examines the epistemological divides between authorship and weaving, commons and community, temporality and ancestors and how decolonizing the tenets of intellectual property law may help protect indigenous weavings.
The Fashion and Race Database is an online platform that expands the narrative and investigation of fashion history to challenge mis-representation within the fashion system. The database aims to amplify voices of those racialized and marginalized in fashion while addressing racism through a sartorial lens.
American Indian Movement Conference"This audio recording documents an event at the New School in the spring of 1973 during the period when the Native American rights organization, American Indian Movement (AIM), was leading the occupation at Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota (February 27-May 8, 1973). The recording begins with the event already in progress. Activist and AIM leader Vernon Bellecourt describes the 1972 Trail of Broken Treaties caravan to Washington, DC, expands upon AIM's goals, and alludes to a dispute between AIM and Oglala tribal chairman Richard Wilson. Bellecourt's talk ends at minute 33:53. The unidentified moderator who follows indicates that the "young lady who is responsible for this evening's program is a full-blood Scatacook Indian woman named Trudie Lamb." The audience applauds Lamb, who is present. The moderator introduces New School faculty member Gerald Sykes, who presents a peace pipe to Mary Ann Red Cloud. Sykes indicates that he is "returning this pipe to American Indians in the hopes that this symbol of betrayal and bitterness can be turned into a symbol of justice" and notes that it is "very obvious that the New School is warmly in support of the Indians at Wounded Knee." Red Cloud accepts the pipe with a short speech. The actor Arthur Junaluska next performs a speech delivered in 1870 by Chief Red Cloud. Several people are then invited to the stage by the moderator, but there are no additional speakers on the recording. Low volume level."
Harry B. Baker papers 1891 – 1946"Harry B. Baker (1868-1941) was an illustrator who taught at the New York School of Fine and Applied Art (which became Parsons School of Design) in the early 20th century. Before moving to New York, Baker traveled the American West. He illustrated bar fights, cowboys, Native Americans, and street scenes. The collection includes photographs of Baker and his students, a letter from Frank Alvah Parsons, and illustrations by Baker."
First Nations Fashion Design"FNFD is an NFP Indigenous Corporations our core business is in supporting the growth of Indigenous Fashion. We are a national voice representing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members, creating ongoing access to opportunities, skill development, and industry engagement."
Indigenous Fashion Arts (IFA)"Indigenous Fashion Arts (IFA) is a non-profit arts organization that sustains Indigenous practices in fashion, craft and textiles through designer-focused initiatives, public engagement and sector innovation. "
Seven Native Fashion Designers You Need to Discover"In honor of 2021 New York Fashion Week, which kicks off this weekend, we’d like to take a moment to celebrate a few of our favorite Native American fashionistas. These incredible artists have incorporated their Native heritage into their modern day designs, some even taking a stand for social justice within their work. Keep reading to learn more about some Natives fashion designers bringing Native authenticity to the fashion industry."
These Indigenous fashion designers are changing the game"After a prolonged COVID delay, the Indigenous Fashion Arts Festival lit up Toronto from June 9-12, showcasing some of the world’s top Indigenous fashion, textiles and crafts. “I’m most excited for the community,” said Dusty LeGrande, the designer of Indigenous streetwear brand Mobilize Waskawewin before the festival. “To cheer on all my cousins — a term of universal endearment — and see some of the most powerful Indigenous art and clothing creations! We are stronger when we move together.”"
11 Indigenous Designers to Support on Indigenous Peoples’ Day and Always"This month, we celebrate and honor Native American people and commemorate their histories and cultures. But the time to support Indigenous artists is all year round. Sustainability and tradition are often at the forefront of Indigenous design, whether it’s the way Keri Ataumbi uses visual storytelling in her jewelry or the history behind Jamie Gentry’s bespoke moccasin boutique. By uplifting Indigenous, Native American, and First Nation-owned brands, you help grow small business, spread inclusivity, and encourage authentic art. Here are eight designers to support this Indigenous Peoples’ Day—and always."