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8 Indigenous Designers to Support on Indigenous Peoples’ Day and Always

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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.

Korina Emmerich

Korina Emmerich descends from a long line of Coast Salish Territory fisherman on her father’s side, and her designs for EMME Studio often reflect that legacy. She is known for crafting beautiful jackets and shirts in bright sunset and oceanic colors, and in patterns that pay homage to the sacred relationship between humans and animals. Celebrities and politicians like Deb Haaland have worn Emmerich’s designs, and one of her creations, a wool skirt and coat, was even featured in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion” exhibit. At the height of the pandemic, Emmerich used her sartorial skills to help her community by crafting hundreds of face masks in traditional patterns and hues. “[Indigenous] masks can carry heavy ceremonial responsibilities in recovery and healing,” Emmerich told ELLE at the time. “Everything created is meant to be used and masks help share traditional teachings in a sort of theatrical way.”

EMME Studio Peridotite Jacket

EMME Studio Peridotite Jacket

Lauren Good Day

Lauren Good Day, an Arikara-Hidatsa-Blackfeet-Plains-Cree designer, learned beadwork from her mother as a child. She then took that passion for art and traditional design and incorporated it into her eponymous contemporary clothing brand, which is known worldwide for its bright unisex graphic tees, hoodies, and pants. Her latest collection honors the “aesthetic of the flourishing Northern Plains” and features traditional floral and elk patterns in bright colors.

Lauren Good Day Ribbons Mermaid Skirt

Ribbons Mermaid Skirt

Lauren Good Day Ribbons Mermaid Skirt

Keri Ataumbi

Growing up on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming, Keri Ataumbi developed a love for contemporary Native American design at an early age. The Kiowa fine jeweler categorizes her work as “wearable art,” because it incorporates conceptual narrative and often features juxtaposing materials. “In the Western world, there’s been a real separation in terms of what’s art and what isn’t art,” she said in an interview. “There’s not an integrated feeling about jewelry, that jewelry is actually art and can have all the same stories and potency that a painting does.”

Keri Ataumbi Rare Arizona Gem Silica Ring with .04ct Diamond in 18K Gold

Rare Arizona Gem Silica Ring with .04ct Diamond in 18K Gold

Keri Ataumbi Rare Arizona Gem Silica Ring with .04ct Diamond in 18K Gold

Jamie Okuma

Renowned beadworker Jamie Okuma is thoughtful and eco-conscious when she comes up with her luxury designs—which often incorporate intricate patterns of florals and animals. Okuma—who is Luiseño, Shoshone-Bannock, Wailaki, and Okinawan—keeps production quantity relatively low in order to avoid overstock. “We all have those go-to pieces in our closet that we keep for years and literally wear out before we retire them,” she said in an interview. “I’m here to make the go-tos, the keepers.”

Jamie Okuma Little Black Fringe Dress

Little Black Fringe Dress

Jamie Okuma Little Black Fringe Dress

Lesley Hampton

Lesley Hampton, who landed a spot on ELLE Canada’s list of designers to watch, credits her Anishinaabe and Mohawk heritage for shaping her work. Hampton’s sleek designs, which bring to light issues like mental health via phrases and sayings emblazoned on them, have been spotted on runways and red carpets (Lizzo is a fan). But that’s not why Hampton got into fashion. “I’ve been doing a lot of growing up and discovering my Indigeneity,” she told ELLE Canada. “I use the collection as a catalyst for figuring out my identity. Being able to present that with beautiful garments on the runway is just a bonus.”

Lesley Hampton A Lineage of Badass Matriachs Jacket

A Lineage of Badass Matriachs Jacket

Lesley Hampton A Lineage of Badass Matriachs Jacket

Jamie Gentry

Jamie Gentry is from the Kwakwaka’wakw Nation, and grew up immersed in a world full of traditional culture and art—particularly sewing, beading, and weaving. She took that deep-rooted passion for all things handmade and turned it into a bona fide bespoke moccasin-making business. Each pair is custom-made and, Gentry says on her site, says “infused with love.”

Jamie Gentry Sand Buffalo Hide Wraps

Sand Buffalo Hide Wraps

Jamie Gentry Sand Buffalo Hide Wraps

Tania Larsson

As a teenager, Tania Larsson immersed herself in her Gwich’in culture—teaching herself how to make traditional jewelry and beaded garments. She found a mentor in Ataumbi, featured above on this list. After apprenticing under the designer for two years, Larsson began making her own beautiful jewelry under her brand Gwich’in Fine Jewellery, which she described in an interview as “a conduit that creates connections between the land, animals, elders, hunters, community members, and the wearer.”

Tania Larsson Beaded Necklace with Caribou Piece

Beaded Necklace with Caribou Piece

Tania Larsson Beaded Necklace with Caribou Piece

Amy Denet Deal

Fast fashion didn’t suit artistic designer Amy Denet Deal. So in 2018, she left her corporate fashion job in Los Angeles and headed to New Mexico. Inspired by the sense of sustainability of her native Navajo community, Deal launched 4KINSHIP as an “artwear” brand focused on upcycling and producing one-of-a-kind clothing and accessories.

4KINSHIP Vintage 80s Rainbow Sweater

Vintage 80s Rainbow Sweater

4KINSHIP Vintage 80s Rainbow Sweater

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