Pairing pumps with a monochromatic trouser swimsuit was as soon as regarded by many as the usual uniform for ladies in energy.
Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan is extra more likely to go for a shimmering, patterned pantsuit designed by Bethany Yellowtail, who traces her heritage to the Northern Cheyenne and Crow tribes, and yellow and purple moccasins crafted by Anishinaabe designer Sarah Agaton Howes of the Fond du Lac reservation in northern Minnesota.
Flanagan selected this ensemble when President Joe Biden visited Minnesota to tout his infrastructure bundle final fall, and earlier this spring when Gov. Tim Walz delivered his State of the State handle. She additionally wore the swimsuit for her new official headshot.
“That swimsuit — folks ask me, ‘Are these polka dots?'” Flanagan instructed me. “I am like, ‘No, they’re elk enamel.’ That, for me, is an influence swimsuit.”
Flanagan, in fact, desires to be valued for the phrases she speaks, the concepts in her head and the duties she fulfills underneath the solemn oath she has sworn. However clothes can talk a thunderous message, louder than any sound chunk from a podium. Every trend selection Flanagan makes is a aware one.
As a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe and the very best rating Native girl elected to statewide govt workplace, Flanagan’s message is that this: A up to date Native girl can present as much as work in her full id whereas lifting up up to date Native designers.
“After I stroll into the Capitol, I am strolling right into a system that wasn’t created for or by us,” she mentioned. “It is highly effective to be in these areas, to put on a ribbon skirt, or earrings which have been beaded from love.”
Flanagan laughed once I requested if she had a stylist — the reply isn’t any. However the 42-year-old may be Minnesota’s most fashion-aware elected official. In 2019, she turned heads on the inaugural social gathering for her and Walz by sporting a pouffy buffalo-plaid costume custom-designed by former “Mission Runway” contestant Samanta Rei of Minneapolis. On social media, she enthusiastically peppers her posts with references to native designers and artists.
“Anytime she re-shares, I get extra followers. That is at all times a profit to a maker,” mentioned textile artist and designer Maggie Thompson. “My following has grown exponentially, and it is positively due to help from Peggy Flanagan and different folks.”
Thompson, an enrolled member of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa who lives in St. Paul, knits winter beanies and cowls that incorporate delicate influences from regalia and beadwork. Her northeast Minneapolis inventive house, Makwa Studio, refers back to the phrase for “bear” in Ojibwe.
She remembers feeling surprised when Flanagan, whom she had by no means met, confirmed up in her studio to buy and introduce herself.
“It is surprising,” Thompson mentioned, recalling that the lieutenant governor bought a cowl. “You’re feeling actually supported. Peggy may be very current in the neighborhood; she’s like an actual particular person.”
However the help between Flanagan and the artists goes each methods. Flanagan remembers as a state legislator drawing energy from a pair of earrings designed by her buddy and Coronary heart Berry CEO Howes, the Ojibwe artist who gifted her with the moccasins. Flanagan mentioned she wore the jewellery when she spoke on the Home ground or on days she needed to muscle via robust political conversations.
“It makes me sit up a bit straighter and put my shoulders again,” Flanagan mentioned. “And it is only a reminder that we’re nonetheless right here, that we as Native girls belong in each place the place choices are made about us.”
Flanagan’s embrace of Native-designed fashions is occurring as half of a bigger motion. Secretary Deb Haaland of the U.S. Division of the Inside wore a ribbon skirt and white moccasins when she was sworn into workplace. Ruth Buffalo, a North Dakota state consultant, donned an elk tooth costume whereas clutching an eagle feather fan for her swearing-in ceremony.
And through Biden’s State of the Union speech, because the digital camera panned to the Ukrainian ambassador, the body included a colourful ribbon skirt worn by a Michigan schooling official who’s a member of the Saginaw Chippewa tribe.
“For those who have been part of Native social media,” Flanagan mentioned, “everybody misplaced their thoughts.”
“We have been so used to being invisible that being seen and acknowledged and valued is all a part of this second we discover ourselves in,” Flanagan mentioned.
The ribbon skirt took off within the late 18th century, as French merchants introduced ribbon and different items to the Nice Lakes space. The pattern traveled outward and hit its peak within the nineteenth century.
“Ojibwe clothes, which was beforehand product of animal conceal, started being changed by clothes of wool and cotton with the normal applique fashion of ribbon work you see at this time being labored in over time,” reported the Leech Lake Information.
However the custom has been revived in recent times, due to designers like Delina White of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe. Sometimes a satin ribbon is sewn into the material, creating stripes that circle throughout the skirt, mentioned White, who launched the model I Am Anishinaabe. She mentioned she’s pleased with bringing a chunk of her ancestors’ heritage into a recent context.
“You’ll be able to put on your conventional ribbon skirt to high school, put on it to the grocery retailer, put on it to work,” she mentioned. “You may make it fancy, you may make it modest, you may make it monochrome or brilliant, you make it for two-spirits. It is about celebrating who you’re.”
Since 2015, White additionally has been the mastermind of trend reveals that includes Indigenous designers, fashions, backstage technicians and stylists. She says it is a part of her mission to advertise inventive folks of Native backgrounds as a result of they’ve restricted alternatives within the trade.
Cultural appropriation of Native American fashion and imagery is an ongoing concern — even amongst non-Native folks. Socially aware shoppers could not want to help attire that earnings off of Indigenous id, or put on items which can be spiritually protected. Many designers cling to the tagline created by the Indigenous-owned artwork and life-style model Eighth Era: “Impressed Natives, not Native-inspired.”
“I consider if you purchase straight from a Native designer — which hopefully there can be an increasing number of, as there is a want and demand for us — which you can be protected in buying what it’s they’re producing,” White mentioned.
When Haaland visited Minnesota this spring, Flanagan greeted her sporting a shiny ribbon skirt with jagged rickrack trim adorning the hem. Her husband, Tom Weber, tracked down the costume and bought it from Beads Sews Creations after Flanagan gasped whereas seeing it on the runway at White’s trend present final 12 months.
For Haaland’s go to, Flanagan additionally sported a pair of beaded earrings that “seem like fireplace,” beaded by Charlie Stately, longtime proprietor of the Woodland Indian Craft reward retailer contained in the Minneapolis American Indian Heart.
Flanagan mentioned her daughter, third-grader Siobhan, solely is aware of of a world the place her mother is lieutenant governor and her “Auntie Deb” is a cupboard member.
She hopes different younger women whose communities historically have not been represented in politics will be satisfied that dressing like themselves is skilled, whether or not they’re giving a speech on the Capitol or a presentation in a company boardroom.
“Native girls have been leaders since time immemorial,” Flanagan mentioned. “It is simply the remainder of society that’s catching as much as us.”
