Healing Ribbons fashion show will emphasize cultural context and inclusivity

The Healing Ribbons Fashion Show has evolved since its inaugural show last year to now place more focus on cultural context and inclusivity.

Healing Ribbons, an intergenerational, intertribal group of women from Nebraska and Iowa, hosted its first fashion show last December. The designers modeled their handmade regalia in an effort to reclaim pride in their identities and heal from generational traumas.

This year, men and boys are showcasing handmade Indigenous designs and regalia, and the show will include more information on the significance of each design and accessory. For example, why certain regalia includes feathers or how each tribe enters the arena to dance.

“We became much more family centric, so we really focused on that family,” said co-founder and board member Tami Buffalohead-McGill. “And what was really cool was that there were several families that you would see, four generations all working together on creating their regalia. So that I thought was really pretty special.”

Healing Ribbons hosted a series of focus groups to ask its members how to best serve them on their journey toward emotional and mental healing from generational traumas. The board then created the new curriculum using the feedback as a guide.

Buffalohead-McGill said for many, the generational trauma includes the Indigenous boarding schools throughout the country in which Native children were taken from their homes and forced into the boarding school system.

She recognized President Joe Biden’s nationwide apology for the country’s actions, but said that doesn’t immediately make everything better for Native communities.

“It was kind of the first step, but it’s not the only step. An apology is good, but it needs to be tied to action,” she said.

Further, Healing Ribbons has expanded upon how preparing for the fashion show can play a role in building strong connections and a “safe place” for Nebraska and Iowa’s Native communities and including more outreach with culture bearers.

“We just did a lot more with integrating what the participants said they wanted to be able to create, but yet they’re also having fun and they’re enjoying themselves,” Buffalohead-McGill said.

The show changed locations and will be at the larger Harper Ballroom in Omaha. Buffalohead-McGill said she wants attendees to appreciate the courage of all the fashion show participants in sharing their recovery from generational traumas.

“Just to see the beauty of their regalia, and not only the regalia, but even the fabric that was created by Indigenous people, to be able to celebrate the artistry, to celebrate the perseverance, to celebrate the resiliency, and to celebrate the fact that people are actually taking their healing into their own hands,” she added.

The show entitled “The Art of Healing: Stories, Stitches and the Sacred” starts at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 17. It is free to attend.

Nebraska Public Media’s Jordan Howell contributed to this report.