How fashion reflects stories of the land.

To be indigenous is to recognize that you are part of the land, and just like our own bodies, we need to protect and take care of the well-being of the land as well. Native fashion continues to share the stories of the land and to remind us all that without the land we would not be able to survive. Fashion has a unique ability to be intimate with people by default, simply because they are the closest things we put to our skin. They are shaped like our bodies. Embodying the stories of the land and encapsulating the ongoing stories native people have and share. Urban Native Era is one of these brands. They aim to empower people who wear their designs and to “increase indigenous visibility all around the world”.

Witnessing Joey Montoya, who is the creator of Urban Native Era, at the California Academy of Sciences fashion show that showcased three designers, Alira Sharrief of The Hijabi Chronicles, Cindy Phan of Ao Dai Festival, and Joey, was a delightful experience. UNE gave us something we hadn’t seen before in previous streetwear collections released by the brand. With their famous “you are on native land” printed on dad hats and hoodies. These designs had a contemporary touch with elegant, earthy, neutral tones and modestly fierce garments. While tuning in to the Intersections Conversation panel discussion earlier in the evening hosted by Marisol Medina-Cadena, Joey mentioned that the designs he showcased touch on a lot of connecting us to our culture and place.

You can see the etheric elements embedded into the designs of the collection. The sheer blouse felt like a fabric of ghostly allure but also ready to wear out to a nightclub or day party. Really bringing two worlds together, enabling a kaleidoscope of diverse features. I really loved Joey’s take on what clothing meant to him. He mentioned that “Clothes can hold us. There’s a spiritual-ness to it. There’s something there, it’s life. When you put something on, you feel that”. Realizing that clothes can be spiritual is a great way to dress with intention and think about how our personal stories are expressed through the clothes that we choose to put on.

Urban Native Era started in 2012 right here in San Jose, California. Joey Montoya, who is Lipan Apache, born and raised in San Francisco, wanted to spread the visibility of indigenous peoples. Inspired by the Idle No More Indigenous movement, UNE began to release its first collection in May 2013, which was made up of a series of shirts. Joey is a multimedia artist and entrepreneur who has set out to re-design a new world. One that is more inclusive. Since then, he has expanded his company, UNE, into a global phenomenon where his designs have been worn by Pauline Alexis “Wagiya Cizhan” (Young Eagle), (Alexis Nakota Sioux), who plays Willie Jack in Hulu’s original series Reservation Dogs. Joey has been featured on ABC’s Localish series Unfiltered and has been in magazines like Cosmopolitan and Vogue. Joey is deeply rooted in the Bay Area Native communities and always has a booth at local Pow Wows.

Urban Native Era is a brand for everyone to wear. Non-natives can and should wear the famous “You are on Native Land” attire to contribute to spreading awareness about who’s land you walk on, use the resources on, and understand that everything we do, and everywhere you go, you are on Native Land that has provided for us since time immemorial. We all need to recognize the indigenous names of the land we live and walk on. To pay attention to the stories that the land has and the voices of the people of the land translating these sacred stories. We must protect the land, heal the land, and love the land as the land loves us. Recognizing native land is promoting the indigenous perspective, leading down a path that takes us out of the colonial mindset of exploiting the land, and into the indigenous mindset of nurturing the land.

Read my next post, where I sat down with one of Native Fashion’s iconic creators, Collin Tru Hale, Mideegaadi Maa?iagash “Buffalo Looking” (Hidatsa/Mandan/Navajo), to discuss his perspective on the Native Fashion world.

Blue hues spill into the windows, bouncing off the textured eggshell white walls, creating a nice, soft glow of cool serenity. The fly on the wall can’t tell where I end and the empty bed begins. I am fully embraced by the linen sheets I purchased at Bed Bath and Beyond when it was still there on Hamilton on the west side. Somehow, mornings always have a gentle presence to them. 

Slithering to the kitchen wrapped in slippery satin drapes. Thank God for coffee. Glaring with squinty eyes from the bright bulb somehow brighter than my actual overhead kitchen light illuminating the day-old papas con chorizo that will suffice for now. My cat side-eyes me as I pass by her food bowl. I know she’s antsy for some tuna as if she hasn’t eaten in weeks. “Today’s going to be a big day,” races through my mind as I head towards my closet door, oh shoot, what am I going to wear?

It’s safe to say all of us, each day, contemplate what we are going to wear: Depending on the occasion dictates the challenge. The South Bay, in all of its glory, hasn’t exactly been placed in the top five fashion regions in the world, but we are full of culture that is rich and full of creativity and life. That includes our fashion. 

In my previous blog posts, I’ve accepted the challenging journey of defining our style. How we dress articulates who we are and how we feel. It’s how we are perceived when attending the Culture Night Market or open mic night at Nirvana Soul and strolling down San Pedro Square. So, what is South Bay’s Fashion style? A crisp, bubbly flight of beer. In other words, it is a mixture of all sorts of things. 

How many pairs of baggy pants are currently hanging up in your closet? Why? Is it because you find them more comfortable? Or maybe you saw a friend or stranger walking down 1st Street in SoFA and thought, that’s a look. And let’s face it, we all want to look good while feeling cozy. The Hypebeast fashion aesthetic has always been a part of how we dress here in the South Bay. Throughout the years, it’s been shifting and changing, and somehow we’ve managed to add more pockets. 

Streetwear in the Bay Area has always been about expressing who you are and what you represent. It indicates a lot about which community you grew up in and impacts how you navigate our communities. Today, streetwear has adopted an additional layer of identity and focuses on the internal world of dressing and how you feel. Sparking the motion of individuals to dress more authentically and as yourself, and if you don’t know who that is, I invite you to use your fashion style to figure that out. 

Conclusion:

Sans logo, screen printed shirts, and accessorized garments with metal hoops and pins are all elements that describe streetwear’s evolutionary state in the South Bay. Wide pants, cozy oversized sweaters, and a drapery scarf or hood to go along with a kind of Balenciaga-like silhouette consisting of weird shapes with the accents of vintage thrift clothes and crossing the boundaries of gender norms in fashion. Androgyny has allowed us to rethink the way we are perceived, the way we are labeled, and the way we are confined to a box, which limits our perception of self-expression. 

We can no longer be restrained by the compounds of decades-old ideologies of community roles, and instead need to recognize our spiritual connection and dress up our auras to influence the people around us to practice authenticity as their new religion to create salvation for us all. I invite you to think about what the clothes hanging up in your closet or sitting in piles on your couch mean to you, and they may show the world who you are or prevent the world from seeing you. A lot of us are wanting to grow as people. Some of us feel we have to, and that can, indeed, be expressed in the exploration of what we wear.

Native Fashion:

Indigenous design is the original design language of America. Connected to this land and place of what we call Canada and the United States. –Amber-Dawn Bear Robe (Siksika Nation) Fashion Curator and Indigenous Art Historian

When you think of Native fashion, what comes to mind? Do you think of feathers and maybe regalia? Well, although this is a part of native fashion, it is nowhere close to all of what it consists of. Each Nation has its version and style of clothing, as well as its own technique for making clothes and garments. All of these techniques stem from traditional techniques passed down through generations. Today, we all have more access to different materials, which enables Native designers to create their own fashion designs with contemporary concepts. Through this blog series, I will be exploring how Native Fashion weaves together the different Native communities all over Turtle Island and diving deep into why it’s important for us here in the South Bay Area. My next post will be talking about my experience watching Urban Native Era take the runway by storm at the California Academy of Sciences.