BUTTE — The arts market here at the First Peoples’ Marketplace for the Montana Folk Festival has been a big draw for festival-goers over the years. Now, some designers and models are taking their First Peoples' Fashion Show to the main stage.
"If loving fringe is wrong, I don’t want to be right," says Carrie Moran McCleary, Little Shell Chippewa Designer and owner of Plains Soul.
McCleary is based on the Crow Reservation located east of Billings and she has been bringing her work to Butte for four years. Her work is inspired by her Native heritage and Montana’s Western culture.
"I think when people come from, say, the Midwest, they sort of think that Native people aren’t here anymore and it’s a really great way for them to see that we are not only here but we are a vital part of our community," says McCleary. Her booth is nestled between a painter and a jewelry maker in the First Peoples' marketplace.
McCleary and the other featured designers will have both local models and Native models like 14-year-old Savannah Yellowcalf, who traveled with her family from Washington state. This is Yellowcalf's second year representing McCleary's designs and the Northern Arapaho Tribe of Wyoming.
Savannah will be one of dozens of models participating in the fashion show, and she says she brought the perfect pair of stilettos.
"I saw these beautiful shoes, they are completely gemstone," says Yellowcalf.
She squeaked with delight as she sat in the shade of her grandmother's Native contemporary art booth and learned the show had been moved from a side stage to the main stage.
So is she ready to walk the main stage in those shoes?
"Of course! I love those shoes," says Yellowcalf.
You can see Savannah wearing those shoes and McCleary's clothing along with other models and designers on Saturday, July 13, at 5 p.m. on the main stage at the Original Mine Yard.
