The Southwestern Association for Indian Arts closed its third annual Native Fashion Week this weekend with a sold-out gala event, A Taste of Native Fashion, at the Eldorado Hotel & Spa. Produced in partnership with Peshawn Bread, the evening showcased capsule collections from five acclaimed Native designers, presenting 25 one-of-a-kind looks grounded in culture, sovereignty, storytelling, and Indigenous artistic excellence.
The gala blended fashion, food, and performance into a multisensory celebration of Indigenous creativity. Guests experienced a menu curated by Raymond Naranjo featuring traditional Indigenous ingredients such as squash, wild plums, and buffalo short ribs. The evening also included live performances from opera singer Bo Shimmin, violinist Aspyn Kaskalla, and singer Tiana Spotted Thunder.
Acclaimed designer Jamie Okuma, a Council of Fashion Designers of America designer, opened the evening with a collection that drew immediate attention, highlighted by a hand-painted leather dress that became one of the most celebrated pieces of the night. Patricia Michaels followed with Secrets of the Harvest, a collection of five handmade dresses inspired by memory and the sacred rhythm of harvest season. Her signature hand-painted silks gave the collection an ethereal, flowing presence.
Designer Jontay Kham debuted River Lily Park, describing the collection as a personal return to childhood dreams and imagination. “This year’s collection marks a homecoming, a return to where it all began,” said Kham. “‘River Lily Park’ revisits the dreams and visions that first started to bloom in my childhood, when I imagined becoming a fashion designer and shaped my world from gardens, color, and fun imagination.”
Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Himikalas Pamela Baker presented Back to Roots — Family: Where the Earth Hears Our Names 2026, a collection exploring the relationships between ceremony, land, and lineage through avant-garde silhouettes and fabric techniques inspired by ancestral regalia. Closing the evening, Lauren Good Day unveiled a collection centered on matriarchy as a living system of care, continuity, and memory. Drawing from the visual traditions of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation, Good Day reimagined ribbon dresses and traditional silhouettes through her renowned ledger art aesthetic.
“What is extraordinary about this year’s event is that this group of artists will never again come together to create in this format,” said SWAIA Executive Director Jamie Schulze. “We are immensely proud of this year’s Native Fashion Week, and of our ability to present a bold new format to a sold-out audience. Events like this affirm why SWAIA Native Fashion Week matters, for our designers, for Indigenous communities, and for the future of fashion.”
SWAIA’s next fashion show is scheduled for Aug. 16 at 3 p.m. during the Santa Fe Indian Market in Santa Fe. Tickets are expected to go on sale in mid-May 2026.