The themes of Native American Fashion – From Roots to Runway range from early traditional expressions to European influences, to Indigenous resistance and ideas about the future. Tradition and innovation are closely intertwined. By honoring history and the ancestors’ knowledge, today’s designers are paving the way for future generations. For many of them, a strong driving force is to show through their creations that they still exist, that their people have survived colonization, forced assimilation, stolen land and broken treaties.
– Through fashion, design and craftsmanship, the exhibition highlights the connections between history, the present and visions of the future, says Anna Lundström, Deputy Director of Content and Learning at the National Museums of World Culture. Here, living cultural heritage meets the collection. In this way, we want to provide our visitors with in-depth knowledge that also sheds light on current issues.
An important status garment from the early 1900s is part of the collection. It is an Elk tooth dress from the Apsáalooke people, adorned with teeth from a large number of Vapiti elk. Angela Howe-Parrish (apsáalooke/pikuni) is one of several fashion designers using elktooth prints in their collections. In her design practice, she aims to inspire today’s youth to carry on the traditions.
A garment that has come to symbolizes struggle is the ribbon skirt, adorned with colorful strips of fabric. A ribbon skirt by designer Bonita Woodie (diné/navajo) is featured in the exhibition. Woodie became the first Native American featured at Milan Fashion Week in the 1990s. The skirt got symbolic value and new relevance after student Isabella Kulak was scolded for wearing a ribbon skirt to school in 2020. Since then, this garment is celebrated and worn on January 4 across North America during Ribbon Skirt Day.
– With a rich style heritage behind them, today’s Native American designers are creating fashion that expresses resistance, pride and identity, says Andrea Davis Kronlund, one of the exhibition’s producers. This exhibition brings together streetwear, upscale fashion, and rarely seen historical regalia in a way that we hope will challenge stereotypes.
The Museums of World Culture have produced Native American Fashion in collaboration with multimedia artist Jeremy Arviso (Diné/ Hopi/Pima/Tohono O’odham), who contributed to the graphic and exhibition design, and curatorial consultant Kelly Holmes (Mnicoujou Lakota), founder of the multimedia platform Native Max.
– Fashion is more than fabric; it is history, sovereignty, and innovation merged together across cultures and continents, says Kelly Holmes. This exhibit highlights the deep-rooted significance of Indigenous fashion and its role in shaping both our past and future on a global scale. Indigenous designers are reclaiming space and redefining the narrative.
A total of 40 contemporary fashion designers are featured in Native American Fashion, which also includes 80 historical objects from the museum collection. For the exhibition, the Museums of World Culture have acquired a number of garments and jewelry.
Native American Fashion – from Roots to Runway will open with a big party at the museum on Friday, April 11, 2025, with several of the fashion designers attending. There will be craft workshops, talks, music and dance by Apsáalooke artist Supaman, welcomed by Swedish-Sami artist Sofia Jannok.
The exhibition is showing at the Museum of World Culture in Gothenburg until November 2, 2026.
