SPOKANE, Wash. — This Sunday, the Pavilion Dance Floor will transform into a runway.
Thea Garcia is one of the minds bringing Native fashion to Northern Quest's first runway.
"Wanted to focus on bringing a fashion show to Native American Heritage Month other than dancing or featuring artists," Garcia said.
Indigenous designers and models will take the catwalk for the inaugural Native American Fashion Show.
"We've been tinkering and it all kind of started with me doodling," Designer David Markalene said.
Like the Madera family from Wellpinit, and it really is a family brand.
"He does all the animals and all that. He does geometric, yeah. He draws all these things and I bead them or sew them," Designer Markalene Madera said.
Heritage, and maybe something more, in each hand stitch.
"You can't sew, you can't bead when you're angry or upset or anything," Daven Madera said. "You got to bead with good intentions because it's like a medicine that gets put into your outfit."
And with the growing popularity of Indigenous fashion, it's becoming about growing out from the Pow Wow Regalia where these home designers first started.
Viewers will see some of their art playing tradition against contemporary.
"It's kind of a piece of our culture that we can just carry with us in every day life," Garcia said.
"When you put on a ribbon skirt, just the pride you have in yourself and the empowerment," Markalene Madera said.
With designers from different tribes and regions coming together for the show, it's a way for everyone to share in the story and learn something new.
"Native American heritage for us is we're learning from each other too," David Madera said.
"Going from a time where it was illegal to portray our traditions, our culture, our ways and now to see it promoted, it's an honor," Markalene Madera said. "And I feel like there's hope for the future that we can just be ourselves."
The Native American Fashion Show is this Sunday at six inside the Pend Oreille Pavilion. Click here to learn how to get tickets.
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