“Fashion Daze Yaamva Puts Native American Designers On the Map

For two days in late April, the chicest, coolest event in the California desert wasn’t Coachella but a two-day fashion extravaganza produced by People’s Revolution and dubbed the Yaamava Fashion Daze, aka America’s First Indigenous Fashion Weekend. Just ask Paris Jackson, LA’s reigning new ‘It’ Girl, who turned up for the final night of the triumphant presentation of Native American indigenous creators, including the first admitted to the CFDA, Jamie Okuma, and other stellar stars such as Jennifer Younger, Orlando Dugi, and Section 35 from Vancouver, Canada.

The setting was on the ancestral land of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians and their reservation, which happens to feature the splashiest, swankiest, buzziest Forbes-rated five-star Yaamva Resort & Casino set against the snow-capped mountains of San Bernardino, California. “This is a spirit call to the next generation,” said Kelly Cutrone, the legendary fashion show producer behind the event. “To celebrate culture and commerce and beauty by creating this platform for indigenous creators gives them new representation for their expressive native sovereignty.”

The first Yaamava Fashion Daze will go down in fashionista history as a seminal event! The first truly Native American Fashion Week was one to remember. Other world-established brands, such as Custo Barcelona and the hippest American streetwear brand of the moment, Cult of Individuality, extended love and support. But the one-of-a-kind work in textiles, beading, and metals from indigenous vanguards like the Alaskan Tlingit artist Jennifer Younger and her armor-like jewelry set the standard. The graphic printed silk dresses, beading, and ribbon motifs of the most famous indigenous American designer right now, Jamie Okuma, also helped truly define this triumphant fashion moment.