At this college fashion show, Indigenous students wear their favorite (and often, their own) designs

On Thursday night, Dartmouth College students put on the annual Indigenous Arts and Fashion Show. It’s part of an ongoing observation of Indigenous Peoples’ Month at the school.

Reporter Elodie Reed brought back this postcard from the event. This interview was produced for the ear. We highly recommend listening to the audio. We’ve also provided a transcript, which has been edited for length and clarity.

Elodie Reed: Inside the Hood Museum of Art, rows of chairs line a red carpet. Just past the carpet, a hallway is filled with changing tents, makeup stations, clothes and jewelry. Yazmyn Azure sits among it all, making sure her dress stays in place.

Yazmyn Azure: If you didn’t know, at fashion shows, you tape everything!

Elodie Reed: Yazmyn — who goes by Yaz — is part of the Dartmouth Class of 2025. They belong to the Turtle Mountain Anishinaabe in North Dakota. She’s also co-president of Crafting Circle. That’s an Indigenous-led organization on campus. And it’s one of the organizers of this event.

Yazmyn Azure: Our main goal is reconnecting through crafts and traditional practices. Abby actually picked up a porcupine off the side of the road last year, and we were able to dequill that.

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Elodie Reed: Yaz is referring to Abby Burgess, who belongs to the Mi’kmaq First Nations from Eskasoni, Nova Scotia. They’re also a class of 2025 student, and a fellow co-president of Crafting Circle.

Abby Burgess: We have sewing machines and ribbon and fabric and beads and everything you would need to make earrings and anything. 

When I’m beading, if you’re not completely focused on what you’re doing, like, you’ll mess up, you’ll miss a bead, your thread will catch, like, so I feel like whenever I’m beading, it’s always just like, really good vibes. Like, it’s always like good energy.

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Elodie Reed: There’s also undeniably good energy here tonight as students get ready to model.

Jami Powell: Oftentimes, you know, student demonstrations are around, kind of raising awareness about boarding schools and land dispossession.

Elodie Reed: This is Osage Nation citizen Jami Powell. She curates Indigenous art for the museum, teaches at the college and also advises several of the Indigenous-led student groups on campus.

Jami Powell: We really wanted to create an event that was about celebrating the creativity and resilience and capacity of Indigenous peoples.

[To students] Alright people we’re five minutes from showtime! 

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Elodie Reed: By now, either side of the red carpet is full of people.

Jami Powell: We are officially livestreaming to the Hood’s Facebook page. So text your aunties and your grandmas and your uncles, and tell them we’re streaming on Facebook, and tell your uncles I’m single!  

Students: Woahhhh! [Laughter]

Jami Powell: I’m trying to make you all feel more comfortable, it’s great! It’s fine!

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Elodie Reed: Yaz and Abby are the emcees.

Yazmyn Azure: Welcome to the sixth annual Indigenous Arts and Fashion Show everyone. 

We’re gonna have Rhett Williams. He’s from the Houma Nation, and he’s wearing a linen shirt adorned with ribbons and a henley collar by Yazmyn Shantelle Designs.

Abby Burgess: We have Wamniomni Afraid of Hawk. Wamni is from the Cheyenne River Lakota. The title of the look is “Language Warrior Hoodie,” with Lakota writing made by himself. The writing in face paint translates to: “The Lakota language is powerful, the Lakota language creates change.”    

Last, but certainly, certainly not least: We have Kendra Elk Looks Back. Kendra is from the Rosebud Sioux Tribe or the Burnt Thigh Nation. They are wearing a ribbon skirt, concho belt and earrings by grandmother June Elk Looks Back. 

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Elodie Reed: While this fashion show is a space for Indigenous peoples, by Indigenous peoples — Crafting Circle co-presidents Abby and Yaz also say they want to share what they’ve made with everyone.

Abby Burgess: I like the broader Dartmouth community to be here, because I feel like a lot of the times, Indigenous peoples are kind of like, thought of as like a relic of the past.

There are so many ways that Indigenous people are thriving, like in the fashion industry and like, creating just really amazing things that aren’t — that have like, hints of tradition, but are also, like, really cool and really fun and really new. 

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Yazmyn Azure: We want people wearing our clothing. We want people buying from small artists. We want people, you know, wearing our jewelry, wearing beaded jewelry. We want this to be in the mainstream. This is the way that we see the world, you know?

Elodie Reed: It’s a way of seeing, Yaz says, that makes their heart sing.

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