In the Indigenous fashion world, Jamie Okuma has been showcasing her distinctive ready-to-wear collections at events like the Santa Fe Indian Market for years now, and is already considered to be at the top of her class. (In the art world, her beadwork and soft sculptures have also been displayed at museums such as the Smithsonian and the Met.) But this season, Okuma—who is Shoshone-Bannock and Luiseño, hailing from the La Jolla Indian Reservation in California—marks a new career chapter, by making a historic entry into the main CFDA New York Fashion Week calendar, becoming the first Native designer to do so. (A long-overdue milestone.) “To be on the calendar is very cool—and a lot of pressure,” says Okuma, who is also one of the finalists in the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund this year.
Given the collection, which is see-now-buy-now, serves as her splashy introduction to the New York fashion scene, Okuma wanted to zero in on pieces that showcase what she does best—her signature printwork. “I really wanted to solidify my designs as an artist,” she says. ”I wanted something very me, but modernized and updated.” Her original patterns, which are her calling card, feature graphic motifs of dentalium shells, flowers, elk teeth, and butterflies, all of which pay tribute to the beauty of organic materials. (It’s no secret, after all, that the Native community has a symbiotic relationship with the natural world around us.) “A lot of the flowers were taken from my own images,” says Okuma. “They were taken at my studio, or places that I’ve travelled. Flowers are like a diary for me—representing certain times in my life.”
While such symbols have been utilized in traditional Indigenous powwow regalia for centuries, it’s the way that Okuma melds and splices them together that makes them feel contemporary. Her pieces make use of such cultural references, but also bring them into a more modern context. Her easy silhouettes, kept deliberately unfussy and streamlined, also make her assortment feel fresh. Okuma experimented with sundresses, jumpsuits, and caftans; They were all made of natural materials like silks, linens, bamboos, and cottons. “I wanted a blank canvas, where I could have room to play with color and design,” she says. “I love silhouettes that fit many different body types.”
Her new lookbook images, meanwhile, equally reflect the designer’s enduring love of nature and storytelling. Clad in her pieces, Okuma’s models were all set against the Leucadia State Beach backdrop in Encinitas, located just a short drive from her native La Jolla. “It was my beach growing up, and where I learned how to surf,” she says. “These are traditional territories.” While her models are seen walking the sandy beaches barefoot, her NYFW digital presentation video also had them wearing beautiful beaded moccasins, a new style made in collaboration with the Indigenous-owned footwear brand Manitobah Mukluks, to be released next month.
Okuma’s distinctive approach is a welcome addition to the New York calendar, given there has been such a longstanding absence of Indigenous talent in the mix. It’s a spirit that goes in tandem with the spirit of the brand, too, which is centered around a desire for anyone— Indigenous and non-Indigenous—to wear it. The designer hopes to debunk the myth that Native design is something insular. “Hopefully, they don’t even think about that,” she says of her customers. “My hope is that they just feel great in it; I would like everyone to know they can wear it.”
