(upbeat music)
- Could I tell you a funny story, too?
A really fabulous story about Beyonce and me?
I got nominated to this-
it's called Girls State,
where they take like two representatives
from each high school and like,
take you to the state capital.
And one of the requirements is that we wear business attire.
At the time the Pink Panther movie was out
and Beyonce did this all pink video.
So I made myself a pink suit to go to Girl State
and like rocked it while everyone else was
in Wyoming business casual.
(upbeat music)
- My name is Bethany Yellowtail.
I'm from the Crow and Northern Cheyenne Nations
in Southeastern Montana,
and I currently live in Los Angeles.
I'm the CEO, founder, creative director
of byellowtail.com.
We're starting to have really big collaborations.
I just completed designing a collaboration
for the Land of Nod,
which is a sister company for Crate and Barrel.
It's not like I grew up thinking, like,
Oh, I'm gonna be a famous fashion designer.
I learned sewing from my aunties and grandmas.
It was just something I naturally was drawn to.
(upbeat music)
- Do you want this against white backdrop?
Or do we want light?
- Yeah white.
I wanna do product shots first,
and then I would like to go up on the roof
or on the street.
- Today we're gonna be shooting my newest piece.
It's called the Sun Road Woman dress,
and that is actually my Cheyenne name.
- Hi.
- Problem again.
This is what it came out with.
- When she sent it over it looked black to me.
I knew it was off just in the email.
We have Laker purple and black.
- Yes.
Oh, and then did you get to see the new?
It's off.
The color's off also, but...
- Wait.
No.
- I know.
Look right here too.
So we have to make sure that
when our production comes from them
that if it's this color...
We're not gonna take it this color.
It's a power dress, huh?
(upbeat music)
♪ All together, you and I
♪ You and I, now's the time
♪ Oh oh oh let's go
- The futuristic indigenous hot mama.
(camera clicks)
You know when you cut your hair really short,
and then it starts to grow,
and it's at, like, that in-between stage,
and it's the ugly phase?
(laughs)
I felt like 2016 was that for me.
I was going through a really horrible breakup,
and, yeah.
It was horrible.
And, uh...
Holy cow.
Here we go.
I really had to dig deep.
I had to change my focus and keep moving forward,
and dig into the things that are really important.
So the Sun Road Woman dress was my expression
of finding strength.
I really started calling on my name,
and the way we pray,
as Cheyenne people, like,
we say our name to the creator.
That's the way the creator hears us.
So I was like saying my name in my language,
and just, like, praying,
and that design was something that came out of that,
out of my heartbreak.
It was,
I love how it came out.
- As a native woman
it's just so exciting to have a native fashion designer
out there who is so big and is doing so well,
because I just absolutely love her clothes
and the meaning behind them.
I mean, they're beautiful,
but they're also meaningful,
and there's so much native influenced
fast fashion out there
that I think is totally heartless.
- Native inspired fashion is in.
- [Narrator] Supermodel Karlie Kloss
walked the runway in a headdress.
- You could go to Urban Outfitters
or Forever 21, or,
really any store, now days.
Even some higher end lines are appropriating native culture.
- Fashion Week, February 2015,
One of my friends messaged me.
She's like, "Hey.
Did you see the KTZ runway show?"
So I looked at it,
I was like, oh,
oh, oh, what?
This dress was not only the same shape as my dress,
but it had the same designs
in just a different fabric and colorway.
To be honest, it took the wind out of me.
It just felt really personal.
Almost like an attack on me as a native person,
because it was like,
here, let me do this for you.
I'm gonna take this to fashion week
when that's my goal.
I wanna be able to be on the big stage
and be in mainstream fashion,
and share the work for my people.
And I spoke up for myself,
which normally, I probably wouldn't do,
and I blasted them on social media
and then the troops came.
People really rallied behind me,
and made sure that they knew
that we were not okay with that.
Did I show you what the inspiration is for this?
I was really inspired by this ledger drawing
by Wakeah Jhane.
She's a Comanche artist.
I love that we're seeing the gray of the city,
and then her in her regalia it just was shining bright.
So that's what I was inspired by for this shoot.
(camera clicking)
So this is a scarf I designed
for Native Americans in Philanthropy,
which is sponsoring the Indigenous Women Rise March
as a part of the Women's March on DC.
All of the indigenous women who are coming to be
a part of the march
will be wearing them around their neck.
So it'll be like...
Like a triangle around the neck, like this.
And this says B.Yellowtail
for Native Americans in Philanthropy,
and then the women will be all across.
I'm really excited to see
all of the women who will be wearing them.
(upbeat music)
I realize it now,
that there is an intersection of activism
and my work as a fashion designer.
- Let's give it up for Bethany Yellowtail.
(cheers)
- I just wanted to share with you
a little bit about what the design means.
As you know, in some of our tribes
our women don't traditionally wear headdresses,
but the Woman War Bonnet Dance,
it's reserved for our young indigenous women leaders.
So I wanted to use that design to represent
this time, this moment,
and all of you who are here.
(upbeat music)
When I was growing up I was told that
no matter what you do,
no matter where you go,
that you always give back to your people.
That's part of my DNA.
I'm tired of having our representation
be through a non-native lens.
I want more people to hear our stories,
and see our faces.
Everything that I was supposed to do with my brand,
I know now.
I'm gonna take everything I've learned
and put it into my next collection.
(R&B music)
Watch more Indie Lens Storycast
by following these links.
Short stories: big impact.
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