The world of fashion has long been one of appropriation....
Designers often base their work on various cultures throughout the world. They would call it honoring heritage. Some might call it stealing.
Bethany Yellowtail is a fashion designer based here in LA, but she grew up on the Crow Nation reservation in Southeastern Montana.
Yellowtail was unsatisfied with many of the pieces that she saw based on her own culture. So she started her own line: B. Yellowtail.
She spoke with Take Two's Alex Cohen about how she first decided to be a create fashion.
"I was always creating my own pieces when I was younger," Yellowtail said. "I had a really incredible mentor who was like 'You could be in fashion,' And I was like 'Okay, I believe you!'"
As Yellowtail grew up on her reservation, among folks wearing mostly Wranglers and cowboy hats, she became an avid consumer of pop culture. She soon realized how underrepresented her Indigenous culture was in the world of fashion
"When I graduated from [design] school and I was working at BCBG Max Azria, I remember a conversation I had [with my mentor]," Yellowtail recalled. She was shown an fashion installation by a European designer that featured Native American iconography such as feathers and beads.
"I just remember the colors were off. They were nothing like what you would find back home [on the reservation]."
These sorts of things are toyed with a lot, even among celebrities. In 2014 Pharrell was on the cover of Elle Magazine wearing a Native American inspired headdress.
"I come from a tribe where headdresses are reserved for specific people," Yellowtail said. "There are stories about how people receive their eagle feathers. The problem is people aren't educated in that way. And that's the danger of using sacred imagery."
Even though her clothing is clearly inspired by the culture of her people, Yellowtail insists that her clothes are for everyone to wear.
"It's for all people. I design for people of all nationalities, all backgrounds," She said. "I don't want people to feel [like], 'I'm not a native person, I'm not supposed to wear them.' There's certain things you're not supposed to wear, but I would never make something that you weren't supposed to."
Yellowtail says that her goal is to educated people about the stories her people hold dear, not to draw a line around her culture.
"I don't see it as I'm fighting against this appropriation. I'm seeing that there is a space for an authentic voice and an authentic vision to be there [in the world of fashion]. And that's what I'm trying to do."
To browse the collection of clothing on B. Yellowtail, visit her website here
Audio coming soon