As part of the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts’ (MoCNA) ongoing programming for Art of Indigenous Fashion, we are presenting “The OGs of Indigenous Fashion,” a conversation about the progressive fashion scene surrounding the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe from the 1980s to the present. This event will be hosted by SITE Santa Fe.

Moderated by MoCNA guest curator and IAIA Assistant Professor of Art History Amber-Dawn Bear Robe (Siksika Nation), a panel featuring Project Runway finalist Patricia Michaels (Taos Pueblo) ’89, photorealistic beadwork phenom Marcus Amerman (Choctaw) ’84, and self-taught couturier Orlando Dugi (Diné) will discuss the early days of their careers. From traveling fashion shows to trendy nights at Heat: A Freak Boutique (one of the first Indigenous fashion boutiques on the Santa Fe Plaza) to visions for a fashionable future, these style icons have entertaining and thought-provoking stories of sartorial revolution, innovation, and experimentation to share.

Join us Saturday, November 12, from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm in the Marlene Nathan Meyerson Auditorium at SITE Santa Fe as we relive the late twentieth-century fashion chronicles of IAIA and Santa Fe. RSVP is required for this event—register today.

SITE Santa Fe is located at 1606 Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe, NM, at the intersection of Guadalupe Street and Paseo de Peralta. The Marlene Nathan Meyerson Auditorium is located at the rear of SITE Santa Fe and can be accessed from the southeast side of the building. Paid parking is available in the Railyard Park parking lot behind SITE. The entrance to the lot is on Paseo de Peralta, just east of the railroad tracks. Additional parking is available at the Railyard Parking structure (free for SITE members) at the corner of Camino de la Familia and Manhattan Avenue across from the Violet Crown Theater.

For questions, please contact MoCNA Membership and Program Assistant Nuttaphol Ma at nuttaphol.ma@iaia.edu or (505) 428-5925.

Image Credit (clockwise from upper left)­: Installation view of Art of Indigenous Fashion with Project Runway Finale Dress and Colonial Dress by Patricia Michaels in foreground, photograph by Nicole Lawe (Karuk); installation view with The Red Collection-Look No. 2 by Orlando Dugi at center, photograph by Nicole Lawe (Karuk); model in Marcus Amerman beaded leather jacket c. 1980s, photograph courtesy IAIA Archives; installation view of Beaded Leather Jacket (Brooke Shields), photograph by Nicole Lawe (Karuk); Patricia Michaels c. 1980s, photograph courtesy IAIA Archives.
All pictured designs are on view in the Art of Indigenous Fashion exhibition at the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts