Ups, downs of fashion in 2020 - Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Ups, downs of fashion in 2020 - Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Fashion school moving to new, comfortable digs - Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
At the Biden-Harris Inauguration, Emerging Fashion Designers Win Big - The Wall Street Journal
Indigenous Fashion Is More Than Tradition - Vogue

Posted: 23 Jan 2021 11:54 PM PST

It is a truth generally acknowledged that 2020 will be known as the year that changed everything: our attitude toward our health, technology and the fragility of democracy; the economies of the arts, hospitality, sports and travel.

Will it also be the year that changed what we wear? How could it not? When our sense of identity evolves, so do the clothes we use to express that sense and the industry that enables us.

Some of the changes are obvious: the rise of leggings and loungewear; the mask as accessory; e-commerce as the most popular form of buying and selling; the dominance of the Zoom top. Ditto the fall of department stores -- at least the department store as we know it -- as well as the red carpet.

But more subtle shifts also took place. If style were a stock market, these are the ups and downs in fortune that charted the course of the year.

Up: Crocs

If we hadn't spent this year desperate for comfort and security, would Crocs have made such a strong comeback? (The company says its revenue, compared to this time last year, is up by more than 15%.)

Possibly. Its status as the Official Shoe of Quarantine was sealed more by the fashion world, with its tendency to resuscitate things once considered ugly or uncool. When Crocs began collaborating with celebrities like Post Malone and Bad Bunny, the brand went street, selling out after each new product dropped.

But it would be a mistake to dismiss the perforated rubber duckbills as just a player in the ugly/comfy shoe trend. Crocs are functional; there is a reason they're popular among people who spend hours on their feet. Now, with their high markups on resale sites like Grailed or StockX, it can be easy to forget that Crocs aren't just for Instagram. Health care workers have relied on the shoes to get them through long days and nights on the front lines.

-- JESSICA TESTA

Down: Closets

Remember closets? Since March, when lockdowns began in this country, few of us have had much occasion to visit the cramped and jumbled spaces Marie Kondo considers graveyards of energy and marketers spend billions trying to get us to organize. Why bother when you can just pick up yesterday's sweats off the floor?

"Everything that was so important became meaningless," said Sasha Charnin Morrison, style director of CBS Watch! magazine. Those 10 beloved variations of the little black dress? Forgotten. That "crucial" pair of Miu Miu platforms with 6-inch heels? Doorstops. The Zara shmattes bought in multiples because they cost so little? Hauled to Housing Works.

-- GUY TREBAY

Up: Aviators

The category is Cool Grandpa Realness. Imagine you win the presidency. You are the oldest man ever to hold that office. Everybody by now knows that politicians micromanage every aspect of their appearance. Your challenge is to serve vitality for the benefit of younger voters without alienating the Metamucil set. No element is too trivial to be considered. (See: Mom jeans, campaign '08.) Your suits will be slim, denims unironed, ties blue and sober, footwear confined to Oxfords and the occasional driving shoe. For a cool prop, look to shades.

It was in the before times (i.e., 2014) that Joe Biden first posted an Instagram showing his Ray-Ban aviators casually tossed on a desk. Political eternities have elapsed since Biden took these classics of military eyewear and so successfully owned them that hardly anyone recalls anymore that Gen. Douglas MacArthur, hippies, '70s gay porn stars, Tom Cruise and Tom Ford got there first.

-- GUY TREBAY

Up: TikTok

TikTok hit mainstream culture in 2020, knocking Facebook off the top spot to become the most downloaded app of the year as millions of content-hungry consumers stuck in lockdown looked for new ways to socialize and stay entertained. And since February, when Charli D'Amelio, one of TikTok's top influencers, sat front row at the Prada runway show, the flirtation between the social media platform and high fashion has become increasingly impossible to ignore.

-- ELIZABETH PATON

Down: Eveningwear

Remember the days of the taffeta mermaid dress? The fairy princess tulle extravaganza? Remember, even, the attention-grabbing little bits of latex that could barely be called a dress but were? Remember when party dressing was a thing?

The pandemic put a stop to traditional red carpet events, not to mention glitzy megaweddings, bar mitzvahs, birthday and anniversary celebrations -- and proved disastrous for the eveningwear businesses. Celebrities did their darnedest to get back in the mood by social distancing in style at events like the American Music Awards (Hello, Jennifer Lopez in silver, midriff-baring Balmain), but it just didn't have the same filter-down effect.

-- ELIZABETH PATON

Up: Elastic Waists

Isolation may have made us all ever more aware of the importance of the ties that bind us together, but it also made us reject the belts and any other garments that physically bind us. For those more frequently at home, who were most often in a chair in front of a screen for hours on end, their exercise regimens on hold, comfort clothes became the fashion choice of first resort, even after we got over wallowing in comfort food.

It may have started with leggings and sweats, but the elastic waist has now infiltrated every part of the wardrobe. Sequin skirts and trousers? Suit pants? It's in there. From stiff to stretch: That's evolution for ya.

-- VANESSA FRIEDMAN

Down: Savile Row

"The most famous men's clothing street in the world is gasping for life," a November article on Savile Row in The New York Times declared. Even before the pandemic, changing tastes and rising rents had long been weighing on the 100-meter-long stretch of the Mayfair neighborhood, which now has at least 10 empty storefronts. Kilgour, French & Stanbury closed in March, following Chester Amies and Hardy Amies in 2019.

With international fittings limited by travel restrictions (70% of Savile Row tailors' revenue comes from overseas trunk shows) and little need for power suits in lockdown, London tailors found themselves alone with their shears and an existential question: Has covid-19 broken the back of the bespoke tradition? Some tailors are now offering digital consultations and fittings, but it remains to be seen if the exactingly cut uniforms of the Masters of the Universe (and the royal family) will rise again.

-- ELIZABETH PATON

Up: Masktivism

Face masks were many a thing this past year: crucial health measure, sign of communal solidarity, political football, important income stream, fashion statement and, latterly, highly visible call to action. Naomi Osaka paid homage to Black men and woman killed by police by wearing their names on her masks during the U.S. Open. Snoop Dogg, Sandra Oh and Hillary Clinton (among many celebrity others) wore "Vote" masks, and Christian Siriano handed them out to guests at his September show (which also featured a "Vote" dress).

Together they helped masks become the personal poster board of choice in 2020, proving you could be sensitive to the welfare of others and make a statement, too. After all, if you have to wear a piece of cloth around your mouth whenever you leave the house, you might as well make it say something. Literally.

-- VANESSA FRIEDMAN

Down: The Fashion Calendar

It is possible that when we look back in fashion history, February-March 2020 will be understood as the last time the hordes of editors, retailers and influencers moved in lockstep from New York to London to Milan to Paris on the four-city fashion circuit. The switch from physical to digital shows didn't just demand a rethinking of how to unveil a collection; it freed fashion from its allegiance to the increasingly calcified slots on the official show schedules. The latest round of shows began in September and stretched through mid-December.

-- VANESSA FRIEDMAN

Down: Shopping

Malls and department stores have been declining for years, struggling to survive the rise of e-commerce. But these hardships were nothing compared to what the pandemic had in store. Even if you wanted to go shopping, it either wasn't possible (in the early days) or advisable (um, now).

But something happened to shoppers, too, when they stopped getting dressed for work, meeting up with friends or attending events. Shopping habits were reconsidered. It became harder to justify buying something if you couldn't imagine wearing it at home -- which was a boon for the piles of loungewear ordered online but not so much for the wedding guest outfit, the job interview ensemble or the holiday party look you may have browsed for at Zara, Neiman Marcus or Jeffrey.

-- JESSICA TESTA

Up: Reinventing

the Fashion Show

When live shows were canceled, everyone in fashion suddenly started jumping on the digital bandwagon. There were fashion shows that were music videos and fashion shows that were miniseries; fashion shows that looked like perfume commercials and fashion shows that looked like documentaries. But the most unexpected alt-fashion shows of all passed up pixels for ... paper dolls.

Instead of high-tech, Jonathan Anderson, founder of the JW Anderson line as well as artistic director of Loewe and a Moncler Genius collaborator, went tactile for his namesake line, shrinking his lookbooks into toy-size cutouts complete with fabric swatches and backdrops so that all his onetime invitees could construct their own do-it-yourself runways.

For Loewe, he took the same idea and up-sized it to a wallpaper roll -- application at the discretion of the user -- and for Moncler, he transposed it into a portable gallery: hang photos as you will. In between, he crocheted a multicolor cardigan for Harry Styles that launched a thousand TikTok challenges and gave multitudes of fans a lockdown project.

In other words, even in isolation, Anderson figured out how to create interaction and proved sometimes thinking outside the box actually means going inside the box.

-- VANESSA FRIEDMAN

Up: Converse

At some point this fall, people began noticing that Kamala Harris really liked to wear Chuck Taylors All Stars. (Elle nicknamed her "the Converse candidate.") In an interview with Complex, the vice president acknowledged the fascination; she suspected her shoes resonated because "we all want to go back to some basic stuff about who we are as a country."

Chuck Taylors are not political. They're not a white pantsuit or MAGA hat. They're a casual wardrobe staple, as ordinary and basic as any white T-shirt or pair of jeans. But they don't feel so ordinary when the first female vice president (and woman of color) wears them. Converse, the 112-year-old brand that has sold Chucks for 103 of those years, has a sudden and unusual chance to recapture the public's imagination.

-- JESSICA TESTA

Down: Model Hounds

Obvious win for 2020? Some of the diversity that for too long had eluded fashion. Gone are the days of lily-white catwalks and magazine covers and the seedy rationales for why things remained that way. Yet the irony is lost on few in fashion that, at precisely the moment when an epochal shift in representation occurred, the modeling business effectively shut down.

"Models have a year, maximum five, these days to hit, peak and earn," said James Scully, a former casting director notable for his discoveries -- think Liya Kebede and Alek Wek. "Now every career is stalled."

This is bad news for the genetically blessed. But it's also grim for the legions of model hounds that track their every move. Call it a lose-lose when models are deprived of bookings and fans can't get a fix. Many young talents are marooned without visas in their countries of origin, and model hounds are left with no choice but to zone out on endless loops of Naomi Campbell or Linda Evangelista killing the Versace catwalk on Instagram.

"Models make fashion," Scully said. And it's true. If our ideals of perfection are ever-evolving, one enduring delight of fashion is seeing what variety of consumable beauty it will send down the conveyor belt next.

-- GUY TREBAY

Fashion school moving to new, comfortable digs - Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Posted: 24 Jan 2021 12:39 AM PST

Jamileh Kamran and Arkansas Fashion School -- the education center founded by the couture designer in 2007 for budding clothing creators -- are on the move.

A Dec. 18 visit to the elegant main space of Kamran's longtime design studio/shop-turned-school on Kavanaugh Boulevard found no boxes piled up yet. Visitors could still seat themselves comfortably, help themselves to holiday candy-bowl offerings, enjoy the tasteful framed wall art, gaze admiringly at the beautiful burgundy-with-gold-trim outfit on the dressmaker's mannequin, see the framed High Profile write-up of Kamran's daughter's featured wedding.

But they could also peruse built-in shelves full of oo-la-la retail fashion accessories, handbags and necklaces and earrings and such, that had been marked down to enticing clearance prices. They could look to the back of the showroom and see shelves of rolled fabric still on display, but behind plastic-wrapped rolls of additional fabric, ready for transportation.

Accessing the school's Kavanaugh classroom involved descending a daunting set of stairs. But no more. The new home for Arkansas Fashion School is all on one level at the Midtown Center, 105 N. Rodney Parham Road at the corner of that road and Markham Street. The new location, which faces Markham, is opposite the Midtown Vintage Market.

"For the whole year I've been looking to have a better home, or school, and more than anything, to have more classrooms," Kamran says. "And then [I wanted to] open a space without stairs, and to make it much more comfortable for students [with] much more equipment -- much more updated equipment.

"Then covid[-19] came and I had to stop," Kamran adds. But she finally found a space with the help of her new landlords, Ann and Steve Leek of Leek Holdings LLC. "They really went beyond to help us out."

On an afternoon several weeks later, Kamran leads a visitor through construction clutter, sawdust and a small team of busy workers at the new facility, whose transformation is being overseen by contractor Doug Story.

The facility is 3,000 square feet, about 600 more than the old space. It will house three state-of-the-art classrooms. The Kavanaugh location allowed only one classroom, so Kamran looks forward to teaching more students in general and in particular, having more students in a classroom at a time.

"For each class we have capacity for eight. ... In one day, we can have 24 there. That's a good improvement. That's a big, big, huge improvement." She also hopes to offer a number of additional courses.

The new space will even include a runway for fashion shows.

"It's going to be a beautiful place outside and inside, and they're working day and night to put us there by end of January," Kamran says.

She hopes to have everything ready by ribbon-cutting day, scheduled for Friday.

"I had planned to put on a big fashion show and our board suggested that it's not time for it in January, because not everybody is vaccinated" for covid-19, she adds. She'll have her graduates put on a show during their ceremony in August, as is tradition.

Meanwhile she and her assistant, Amanda Morley, have been overseeing the move. Students were asked to lend a helping hand, especially with wrapping all that clothing fabric.

Kamran, who spent some 30 years in the Kavanaugh space, wonders how she managed to run a school out of it for 13 years. She admits the place holds a lot of memories, and leaving it tugs at her heartstrings a bit.

"But it is time for us to go to a new chapter for our school."

Arkansas Fashion School offers a 15-course program that teaches students all the skills to begin a fashion career. Students typically finish within two years. The school is is licensed by the Arkansas Department of Higher Education and, in 2019, was recognized by the Accrediting Council for Continuing Education & Training. For more information, visit

arkansasfashionschool.edu.

EMERGE!

The Arkansas Arts & Fashion Forum is taking applications for participation in the latter's Spring 2021 Emerge Designer Cohort. Emerge is "a designer residency program established to ... further develop talent in the area, as well as attract visionaries from other regions to collaborate, train, and learn from the regional creative community."

From March through June, chosen designers will participate in monthly workshop weekends in which they'll learn from industry experts how to help their business grow. They'll also present part of their collection to select mentors for individual collection critiques.

Applications for Arkansas Arts & Fashion Forum's Emerge Designer Cohort are due on Feb. 12. Go to

arkansasfashion.org.

A FEW QUICK REVIEWS ...

As we've seen by those Zoom meeting accidents we've had, or witnessed on TV shows and commercials, a pandemic is no reason to look scruffy. Here are a few notable fashion-and-beauty enhancers to which I've been introduced.

• Gold costume jewelry pieces by New York designer Julie Vos ... available at gift boutique Powder & Smoke, Pleasant Ridge Shopping Center in Little Rock (powderandsmoke.com). These Valentine's/"Galentine's" Day gift candidates -- earrings, bracelets, necklaces and rings, made of 24-karat gold plate over nickel-free brass -- are sleek, rich, exquisite things, some accented with pearls, faceted semiprecious stones and imported glass. Prices in the line fall in the $50-to-mid-$300 range. I added to my wardrobe Vos' 38-inch chain-link necklace with prominent-but-lightweight circular links.

• Also at Powder & Smoke; another gift candidate for the Day of Love -- Snap-on fur cuffs by Dana Stein. Whether eggplant-colored raccoon ($135) beige mink ($145) or other colors, a pair of furry cuffs are definitely a way to change/glam up existing upper garments. And hey, if they match those fur-strap slide sandals of yours ...

• Actsyl-D Active Conditioning Mist, made by the Actsyl-3 hair growth folks. Smelling exactly like Actsyl-3, which I reviewed in an earlier column, it's a "weightless leave-in formula that detangles, smooths and provides heat protection while restoring natural movement, manageability, and shine." Ultraviolet rays? Environmental pollution? Chemicals? Heat treatments? Physical damage caused by combing or brushing? This stuff is billed as fixing it all. It certainly works as a detangler ... so well that some Afro-wearers might worry about their hair being a little too soft and pliable. But I like it. Actsyl-D is $17.99 at actsyl.com.

Dressing Room is a recurring feature. Send any fashion- or beauty-

related news releases (at least 30 days in advance, if it involves a time-sensitive event) to:

[email protected]

Jamileh Kamran shows off the new space for Arkansas Fashion School. The school is moving from its old location on Kavanaugh Boulevard, where for years Kamran ran her design studio and retail shop. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Helaine R. Williams)

Remodeling equipment and supplies rest on the floor at the new space for Arkansas Fashion School. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Helaine R. Williams)

Julie Vos jewelry pieces hold court at Powder & Smoke. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Helaine R. Williams)

Fur cuffs by Dana Stein tower on hand mannequins over a fur-studded handbag at Powder & Smoke. The potential Valentine's Day gifts are perfect for showing off one's hands at those Zoom meetings. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Helaine R. Williams)

At the Biden-Harris Inauguration, Emerging Fashion Designers Win Big - The Wall Street Journal

Posted: 22 Jan 2021 06:45 AM PST

THE FASHION at Wednesday's inauguration put American designers front and center, including several emerging American designers—who particularly stand to benefit from the attention. President Joe Biden's Ralph Lauren suit got respectful reviews, but outfits designed by Sergio Hudson and Alexandra O'Neill, names far less widely known, were singled out for special praise. This level of exposure can make a huge difference, said Ikram Goldman, the Chicago retailer who gravitated to the work of many undersung designers when helping style Michelle Obama during the Obama administration. "These are unknown designers that are being worn by people in the limelight," she pointed out, "and that combination...makes an impact on a lot of levels."

Ella Emhoff wears a Batsheva dress.
Photo: Ella Emhoff

Chief among them, sales. Batsheva Hay, who designed the high-necked burgundy dress worn by Ella Emhoff—the stepdaughter of Vice President Kamala Harris —said her e-commerce transactions started reaching record highs after the inauguration: "Compared to a regular day, I did at least five times as many sales on my website." Ms. Hay is seeing unprecedented levels of interest manifest in other ways, too. A photo she posted on Instagram of Ms. Emhoff in her dress garnered more than 12,000 likes, thousands more than her typical posts.

Online interest also spiked for the family team behind the ornate, bird-adorned ring worn by poet Amanda Gorman. "We had the most people we've ever had on our website yesterday," said Octavia Giovannini-Torelli, who runs the jewelry line Of Rare Origin with her mother and sister. "We're responding to every single client who has reached out." Since Wednesday, their website has featured a banner that reads: "We're honored (and freaking out) to have a birds-eye-view at this historic Inauguration."

Sergio Hudson, the Los Angeles-based designer who created the plum outfit that Michelle Obama wore at Wednesday's inauguration and the black cocktail dress that Vice President Harris wore that evening, said his Instagram following multiplied from around 50,000 to over 130,000 in the hours following the inauguration. He says he's barely had a chance to check sales and web traffic between all the interviews that have resulted.

Amanda Gorman wears a gold ring from Of Rare Origin.
Photo: Getty Images

The increased attention is especially welcome after a year that, thanks to the pandemic's impact, ranks as one of the fashion business's worst. "It means validity in the industry at a time where I feel like the industry is struggling," Mr. Hudson said. "The past year has been scary. You've wanted to be a designer your entire life and then in one year you're like, watching the whole industry collapse….This shows people still believe in fashion."

Though lesser-known, many of the labels that contributed most conspicuously to the inauguration, in all its jewel-toned monochrome glory, have been on the scene for years. Here's an introduction to some of the standout brands.

Kamala Harris, pictured with Douglas Emhoff, wears an outfit by Christopher John Rogers.
Photo: Getty Images

BATSHEVA

Ella Emhoff's Prairie Dress

Batsheva Hay's signature prairie dresses have developed a small cult following. Her eponymous brand's clothing often features high necklines, frilled cuffs and ultra-feminine prints that range from floral to leopard. A former lawyer, Ms. Hay started the line in 2016. Her designs have a Victorian-meets-bohemian look that's fueled her arty-downtown reputation, and earned her a loyal social-media following and "cool girl" devotees including comedian Aidy Bryant and food artist Laila Gohar. Notably, her dresses are priced in the $200 to $500 range, significantly lower than most of the inauguration attire.

Left to right: Leslie Tcheyan, Thea Giovannini-Torelli and Octavia Giovannini-Torelli
Photo: Hunter Abrams

OF RARE ORIGIN

Amanda Gorman's Birdcage Ring

The ring Oprah Winfrey gave to poet Amanda Gorman for the ceremony, a tribute to former inaugural poet Maya Angelou, was designed by this New York-based jewelry line.

Designer Leslie Tcheyan operates the brand with her two daughters, Octavia and Thea Giovannini-Torelli. The design that Ms. Gorman wore is an iteration of a piece from the 5-year-old brand's very first line, the Aviary Collection. Of Rare Origin's other jewelry, handmade in Italy, is similarly intricate: Think pearl drop earrings with jade-bead detailing and velvet choker necklaces with lapis flowers.

CHRISTOPHER JOHN ROGERS

Kamala Harris's Purple Coat and Dress

The man behind the vice president's purple dress and coat, Christopher John Rogers launched his eponymous womenswear line just after his college graduation in 2016. Michelle Obama is also a fan of the New York-based designer, whose bright, fanciful, voluminous designs won him the CFDA's American Emerging Designer of the Year award last September. Mr. Rogers, who is known for his commitment to strong colors, sketched his most recent collection with a box of crayons. His e-commerce site, featuring vivid dresses and gemstone-studded separates, just launched last fall.

SERGIO HUDSON

Michelle Obama's Burgundy Ensemble

Sergio Hudson, the designer of the three-piece set Michelle Obama wore to Wednesday's ceremony, had previously flown under the radar for the most part despite dressing celebrities from Tracee Ellis Ross to Amal Clooney. Born in South Carolina, the L.A.-based designer started creating custom clothing in 2005 and launched his first ready-to-wear line in 2014. His eponymous label's trademarks include precise tailoring, seductive silhouettes and pops of bright color inspired by designers like Gianni Versace.

MARKARIAN

Jill Biden's Teal Coat and Dress

Alexandra O'Neill, 34, launched her brand Markarian (named for a group of galaxies) in 2017. Her designs tend to skew romantic, often relying on bridal-white fabrics and lace trims. The outfit she designed for the first lady was produced in New York City's Garment District, like the rest of Markarian's clothing—but Ms. O'Neill hand-finished this one herself in her Greenwich Village apartment.

More in Style & Fashion

Indigenous Fashion Is More Than Tradition - Vogue

Posted: 23 Jan 2021 06:18 AM PST

In our traditions, women are in charge of water. These calico skirts, made opulent with stripes of satin ribbon, visibly state our responsibility. Peggy Flanagan, White Earth Band of Ojibwe and our lieutenant governor here in Minnesota, proudly wears her water skirts and is loudly opposed to the Line 3 pipeline, which would disrupt our wild-rice beds, cross the headwaters of the Mississippi River, and contribute immeasurably to climate chaos.

Indigenous people create tribally specific clothing for many reasons—to express belonging, enter ceremony, show resistance, and to dance. Most important, I think our clothing makes a simple point. We are still here. There are 574 federally recognized tribal nations in the U.S. What we wear is unique to our particular tribal background. As I say, my look is always mixed but includes Chippewa, Ojibwe, or Anishinaabe influences, as well as Métis woodland-based patterns and complex flower beadwork. This style has been most beautifully interpreted by Métis artist Christi Belcourt, whose painting Water Song was used as the basis for several Valentino pieces in 2015.

In writing this, I don't want to invite the careless to don Indigibberish outfits like fake eagle-feather headdresses or plastic–bone pipe breastplates. So I'm going to divide Native apparel into two categories: sacred traditional and contemporary Native fashion. In the first category, there is the jingle dress, a healing garment that incorporates metal cones. The shaking of the cones is mesmerizing; the sound is meant to heal. The Mille Lacs Indian Museum and Trading Post in Minnesota is hosting a show on the jingle dress, curated by Brenda Child, Red Lake Nation, that includes a dress made from a woman's police uniform. The artist Maria Hupfield, Wasauksing First Nation, has created a jingle dress of regular blue-lined writing paper, printed with the names of over 500 North American Indigenous authors. Families all over Indian Country pool resources to outfit their powwow dancers in mind-blowingly elaborate regalia that is unrepeatable and impossible to mass-produce. How do you manufacture love?

In the second category, there's cushy footwear, perfect for working at home. As I write this, I am wearing a pair of moccasins from Manitobah Mukluks, an Indigenous-owned company. The owner of Beyond Buckskin, Jessica Metcalfe, Turtle Mountain Chippewa, sources grassroots designers who incorporate Ojibwe language into objects available from her online store. The nonprofit Honor the Earth sells bold graphic designs that anyone can wear to show solidarity with the Native fight for climate justice.

These days, the only way I have to express Indigeneity in public life is to wear jewelry, especially beaded earrings, on Zoom appearances. Wheels of antique beads made by Pe Hin Sa Win, Red Hair Woman, give me the comfort of a family friend. Josef Reiter's heavy Anishinaabe silverwork cuff gives me strength. Sweetgrass-trimmed birchbark circle earrings from my oldest daughter remind me to use our language. Another daughter made me a golden eagle–winged medallion that illustrates my Ojibwe name.

I know who makes the special things I wear. I know the history of each design. Each piece has meaning that gives depth to the moment, to the day, to my life. I wear adornment that keeps me close to my origins and to the earth; I have a rich connection with the people who make my favorite garments and jewelry. And I feel extra satisfaction when I wear something that expresses that relationship and also expresses me. Isn't that supposed to be what fashion is about?

Louise Erdrich is the author of over 20 books, including the National Award-winning novel The Roundhouse.

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