Quannah Chasinghorse on PROTECTING Indigenous People for Net-a-Porter December 27, 2021
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To call Quannah Chasinghorse “a rising model” borders on being insulting — even though such a rise is a long-held dream for the daughter of Hän Gwich’in and Oglala Lakota ancestors. Knowing that AOC holds Chloe designer Gabriela Hearst in total reverence, her deeply personal words about Quannah Chasinghorse carry near-Biblical weight.
“To have a dimensional being like her open and close a show for the first time at a Gabriela Hearst collection is an honor – a small stepping stone to a magnificent trajectory,” Hearst told Porter Magazine’s Gillian Brett in Monday’s interview ‘New Horizons With Quannah Chasinghorse’. Herin Choi styles Chasinghorse in what we know are sustainable looks from Gabriela Hearst and Chloe, lensed by Camila Falquez [IG].
Brooklyn-based designer Lauren Manoogian’s knitwear is ethically crafted in Peru; Casaola’s knitwear is produced locally in Italy from considered materials with a fully traceable supply chain. Amsterdam-based CAES is very prominent in the slow, sustainable fashion movement. Stella McCartney is absolutely sustainable. Net-a-Porter isn’t promoting the sustainability credentials and links to certain fashion pieces are not in Net Sustain.
“[Gabriela] truly believes in her work and sustainability and being real with that,” says Chasinghorse. “And uplifting more Indigenous people – collaborating and working with Indigenous people instead of culturally appropriating, which is very, very important. Bringing in Native American models to model [the collection] was beautiful, and I felt so honored to be a part of that.”
“It’s a little bit deeper than just ADVOCATING . . . it’s important to recognize that I’m doing so much more than just being an activist for these things; I’m PROTECTING my community; I’m protecting my ways of LIFE.”
Chasinghorse describes herself first and foremost as a land protector, who is leveraging her growing public persona to educate others about Native American ways of life. America’s history with indigenous communities is inescapably dishonorable [Anne’s opinion] and Chasinghorse is committed to confronting the issues that impact her communities, and to become a positive change agent.
At the top of her agenda are the climate crisis and environmental justice.” For many of us, her vision is an America that we embrace and honor. At the same time, this young warrior woman threatens the status quo because she represents vanquished peoples at the hands of conquering colonialists who arrived on land that provided the very foundation of life for thousands of years for America’s indigenous peoples.
As humans migrated out of Africa and across the globe, many came to live on the land that is now America. The Atlantic estimated that indigenous people lived on this soil for at least 20,000 years before the first Europeans arrived.
Many early humans migrated north into Russia and the area we now call Siberia. Researchers know that those humans and animals like woolly mammoths then migrated into the area now known as Alaska via the Bering Strait. The connecting land mass was wider than it’s current narrowest point of 85 km.
Quannah Chasinghorse proudly exhibits her rich heritage in the form of Yidįįłtoo tattoos, hand-poked by her mother in homage to significant life events. It’s a bit heart-wrenching to read that at age 14, Chasinghorse became the first girl in her tribe to reclaim this tradition in more than a century.
Most progressives including AOC believe that Europeans colonized American land and then bought slaves from Africa to farm it. The restoration of Yidįįłtoo tattoos is part of the current word that right-wing Republicans seek to ban called ‘decolonization’.
AOC was shocked in a wonderful way that Ralph Lauren used the word ‘decolonization’ in his POLO Holiday Campaign, by supporting well-known activists in that movement. We are pleased that Net-a-Porter has obviously made a conscious decision to let the word stand as well, in a quieter way,
We will have to check out other magazines regarding this word. I know that Gabriela Hearst feels free to use the word ‘decolonization’ as truth.
In this new year 2022 — which may be a b*tch of a year politically — it’s really important that we progressives join hands on the true facts of our collective heritage. It means everything for big luxury brands like Ralph Lauren and Chloe to take a quiet stand.
AOC looks at the process as one of lifting their voices — the in-your-face activists — onto more mainstream platforms. We will still get down in the ditch in the way I do not expect Ralph Lauren or Gabriela Hearst to do. AOC believes we straddle both worlds as a sort of emissary between the two.
Simply stated, we cannot leave young leaders like Quannah Chasinghorse with no “establishment” backup in 2022 and beyond.
Reading Chasinghorse’s Net-a-Porter reflections on choosing to revive the tattoo traditions of her tribal heritage is humbling. Interested friends can check out Decolonising the Arctic, One Tattoo at a Time: A Conversation with Holly Mititquq Nordlum.
We’ve left out huge parts of the interview on AOC. Be sure to read it all at Net-a-Porter. ~ Anne
