TALKING FASHION

Jessica Metcalfe, Ph.D.; Photo: courtesy

Taking Native Fashion mainstream has the potential of tackling many obstacles while addressing issues such as cultural appropriation. The movement may also provide opportunities for small designers and fashion business owners alike. Though its a hard fight, people like Dr. Jessica Metcalfe (Turtle Mountain Chippewa) and non-Indigenous ally Chloë Angus and their work are helping bridge the gap of Native fashion to the mainstream fashion industry.

Jessica Metcalfe, Ph.D. Founder, Beyond Buckskin & Beyond Buckskin Boutique

Jessica Metcalfe, Ph.D., (Turtle Mountain Chippewa) has become a well-known person in the small-niche community of Native fashion of North America. She founded Beyond Buckskin, a blog that empowers Native American artists and designers, advancing the quality of Native American fashion through education while providing an in-depth podium for societal participation. Inspired by relevant historical and contemporary Native American clothing design and art, Beyond Buckskin promotes cultural appreciation, social relationships, authenticity, and creativity. She also launched Beyond Buckskin Boutique, an online platform where emerging and established artists can bring their work to new audiences. “The fashion industry is one of the hardest fields to break into, regardless of your background,” Metcalf explains. “Through this boutique, we create a space to bring Native American-made fashion to the forefront and to demonstrate that ‘Native fashion’ and ‘Native style’ is more than just a trend.” Jessica Metcalf wasn’t always into fashion. “My mom was. When she took me school shopping, I resisted her suggestions for the fashion-forward, trendy stuff of the ‘80s,” she explains. Yet, Metcalf loved emulating her mom’s fashion style. “I absolutely loved my mom, looked up to her, and dressing like her was a huge honor.” When she became a teenager, Metcalf played with her style, including many fashion genres, such as schoolgirl, skater, and hip-hop. As she got older, Metcalf’s style stabilized slightly and consisted of combining a dress or skirt with heels and statement jewelry. Now, Metcalf usually incorporates Native American-made clothing, jewelry, and accessories into her style. “These items inevitably find their way into my daily outfits, and I love it.” However, Metcalfe credits her educational experiences to influence the development of her style. She grew up poor and went to a small school where she graduated with about thirty other students, most of whom were Native American. She experienced culture shock when she attended Dartmouth College, an Ivy League school on the east coast. As her studies in history, law, and policy, education, language, culture, and art intensified, she made connections that she never saw before. “I became fascinated with the power of clothing and how it can relay messages, whether consciously or subconsciously,” Metcalf explains. “Increasingly, I found it necessary that we, as Native people, need to visually state that we are still here, and we need allies.” According to Metcalfe, through clothing, jewelry, and accessories, Native people can keep their voices and perspectives in the conversation without white-washing and exclusion. Metcalf then gathered the information for her dissertation on Native American designers of high fashion: personal interviews with designers, photos from groovy fashion shows in the ‘70s and early ‘90s. But Metcalfe wanted to share this newfound information with more people than just her doctoral committee, which led her to launch the Beyond Buckskin blog in 2009. “I had no idea if anyone would read it or not, I just wanted to put it out there that Native American fashion exists. Simple.” Metcalfe graduated with her Ph.D. and advanced to various professor positions in Art History and Native American Studies. Though, she found herself standing out amongst other professors with her long dark hair and growing personal style, which consisted of big beaded earrings and other items. “I’m not the only one who has been called out that ‘big beaded earrings or other cultural clothing or jewelry items are distracting’ and shouldn’t be worn so that the students could concentrate on the material. What a ridiculous and petty jab.” Metcalfe realized her efforts would be better spent elsewhere when she realized higher academia doesn’t value other minority perspectives. As she ran her blog, she noticed her readers wanted to buy Native American-made fashion. However, there was the problem of connecting customers with artists and designers in the new century. “At that time, there was nowhere to do it. You’d have to physically have to go to an event, like the Heard Indian Market or Santa Fe Indian Market, or a powwow, and each only happens once a year, and not everyone has access to travel to those places.” Using the internet’s power to connect customers with makers, she established Beyond Buckskin Boutique, which included dozens of Native American designers she met while researching her dissertation. “I had cultivated a loyal following with the blog. All of these people knew me and knew what I stood for.” Despite taking a huge risk with her first attempt at a business in the ultra-niche category of Native Fashion after trading a stable career as a professor for an entrepreneur, she launched the online boutique in 2012. In just eight years, the business grew substantially and was all done in rural North Dakota. Despite operating a fashion business in the middle of nowhere-land, Metcalfe looks beyond the obstacles. “There are hurdles to base a fashion business in rural North Dakota versus a big city like New York City, but this forces me to remember that we are more than just a fashion business; we are about representing diverse perspectives and worldviews, and we are about honoring tradition and going beyond the expected.” Metcalfe’s work with Beyond Buckskin is credited for bringing Native fashion to the spotlight, especially online. Beyond Buckskin has also become an ongoing platform of bringing awareness to the cultural appropriation that happens regarding Native fashion. The blog has numerous posts of non-Native fashion designers appropriating Native cultures and aesthetics in their collections and educational resources for anyone interested in learning about cultural appropriation. Besides writing about Native art, fashion, and design, Metcalfe hosted and produced fashion shows and arts events. Metcalfe continues to share her journey, challenges, and successes through workshops, presentations, and keynote addresses. Its namesake boutique is the original online platform that sold a collective of Native American-made goods through e-commerce. Rooted in positive activism and a desire to share Native cultures with the world through fashion design, Beyond Buckskin Boutique continues to provide a place where customers can connect with Native American fashion designers and jewelry artists.