At La Fonda on the Plaza, Indigenous House opened Indian Market weekend with a full day of networking, fashion, creators, and screen talent shaping Native culture right now.
Indian Market weekend is Native fashion’s loudest moment of the year, and this August the action spilled well beyond the Plaza. On Friday, August 14, Indigenous House, the Native-women-owned media company led by founder Crystal Echo Hawk (Pawnee) and head of content and community Jade Begay, opened its takeover of La Fonda on the Plaza with a day built around Native music, fashion, food, and style. According to organizers, the day was designed to spotlight the people shaping Indigenous culture, commerce, and content today.
The morning opened with the Women’s Networking Breakfast, presented by The Christensen Fund, under the banner “celebrate the women shaping culture, policy, and the future of Indigenous communities,” according to event signage. Former Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo) sat for a fireside conversation with Vogue senior fashion and style writer Christian Allaire. Nearby, product from N8iV Beauty was on display, a reminder that at Indigenous House the line between conversation and commerce stays deliberately thin.
The style centerpiece came in a fashion and culture conversation, also led by Allaire, gathering Tlingit jewelry designer Jennifer Younger, Faherty Brand co-founder Kerry Docherty, N8iV Beauty founder Ruth-Ann Thorn, and ThunderVoice Hat Co.’s Lehi ThunderVoice Eagle, according to organizers. The dialogue sat at the heart of the weekend: Native makers defining their own aesthetic and carrying craft traditions into contemporary work.
By afternoon the energy shifted to the Indigenous Creator’s Summit, staged with the YouTube Creator Collective and moderated by Jade Begay. Inuk content creator Shina Nova spoke to a phone-filled room, the audience recording as she talked, joined by Anishinaabe creator, educator and youth advocate Eagle Blackbird, according to organizers. The craft was the quiet showstopper. One guest held up a fully beaded YouTube play button, and a customization station let attendees build their own cowboy hats, a very Santa Fe kind of souvenir.
The late afternoon brought screen talent. Crystal Echo Hawk moderated the Gangland Film Panel, joined onstage by actor Lou Diamond Phillips and cast members Lane Factor, Elisha Pratt, Ryker Sixkiller, and James Whitecloud, according to organizers, for a conversation about the new crime drama.
The day closed with a networking reception at La Terraza, where creators and industry leaders gathered over music and light bites. The Indigenous House Mercantile anchored the room, a curated marketplace of Native brands including Wakeah Jhane, N8iV Beauty, Faherty Brand, House of Sutai, Tlingit jewelry designer Jennifer Younger, Stoner Baby Nails, and NDN Girls Book Club. If Indian Market is where Native artistry has always gathered, Indigenous House spent Friday making the case that the creator, the designer, and the movie star now share the same room.
