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With less than a month to go, the Indigenous Nations Diversity Network is gearing up for a night of fashion, culture and pride at its second annual Indigenous Fashion Show Gala.
“Yellowstone” actor Gregory Zaragoza, this year’s special guest, will honor Youth Alliance Executive Director Diane Ortiz with the Woman of Leadership and Strength award.
“We’re really promoting our pride in culture, in our designers, and also talking about our history,” said network founder Elvira Zaragoza Robinson.
Ortiz is receiving the Woman of Leadership and Strength award for her three decades of building free prevention, counseling, leadership, and advocacy programs for youth and families in San Benito County.
Zaragoza said this is a chance to show off the diversity within Indigenous tribes and communities.
“People think we’re homogenous,” he said, “but there’s so many different tribes who have their own language, their own clothing, jewelry, art, food, you name it. Here we have a chance to have tribes to show who they are and what they represent.”
The fashion show features designs from six different Indigenous designers including Jose “Hands” Lopez (also the show’s MC), Crystal Pagal, Dez Adams, Keeli Littleleaf, Athena Ray and Nicole Olea.
The designers come from all over California and some, including Littleleaf, who comes from the fashion house Ayayat, have had their work featured nationally.
Runway models for the fashion show will feature San Benito County Supervisor Angela Curro, Hollister City Councilmember Rudy Picha, Youth Alliance Executive Director Diane Ortiz and many more.
However, Ortiz said, this gathering is also about more than just fashion, it’s about resistance and reclaiming an Indigenous identity.
“This is our way of resistance,” she said. “It’s our way of showing that we are still here, that our cultures are vibrant and our celebrations and our people are valued and meaningful.”
Robinson said, “The more we exhibit, the more we dance, the more we have ceremony, it just shows that we are still here, and we continue to show our pride and culture.”
Robinson added that in Indigenous cultures, art and design are modes of coming together and showing what communities have to offer.
Ortiz described art as a form of resistance and healing.
“Art is a form of resistance,” she said. “It is a form of reclamation. I think the last few years, the reconnection and revitalization of our indigenous identity, of culture, of celebration of art, that’s healing work that will sustain us.”
For Zaragoza, it’s also about pride.
“It’s so nice for us to get out and show, yeah, we are a proud people,” he said, “and for people to see that fashion and that desire to show we are alive, we are here.”
Along with the fashion show, the gala will also feature a dance performance by Calpulli Tonalehqueh, an Aztec dance group based in San Jose.
Indigenous Fashion Show Gala will take place on Aug. 29 from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Bolado Park, 9000 Airline Highway in Tres Pinos. Tickets are $90 and available through Eventbrite.
The BenitoLink Internship Program is a paid, skill-building program that prepares local youth for a professional career. This program is supported by Monterey Peninsula Foundation AT&T Golf Tour and Taylor Farms.
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