Norma Baker Flying Horse, Phoenix Fashion Week Designer of the Year
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By Darren Thompson
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Phoenix, Arizona—Last night Norma Baker Flying Horse, founder of Red Berry Woman, was chosen among three other designers as Designer of the Year at Phoenix Fashion Week at Chateaux Luxe. She was one of two Indigenous fashion designers chosen by the organization to participate in a 3-month boot camp that challenged participants with a program designed to advance every designer’s business in the industry. of fashion.
“I am more than happy to receive this recognition,” Flying Horse told Native News Online. “Thank you to my family, supporters and Phoenix Fashion Week for this incredible opportunity.”
After being chosen as Designer of the Year, Flying Horse will be promoted by Agency Arizona, a renowned modeling and talent agency that will promote Red Berry Woman in international markets.
Red Berry Woman is also Norma’s Dakota name, and the company strives to incorporate traditional designs with contemporary, ready-to-wear couture garments for women and men. Norma Baker Flying Horse is an enrolled member of the Hidatsa Tribe of Fort. Berthold Indian Reservation and also Dakota Sioux and Assiniboine. Her clothes and designs pay homage to her cultural heritage. Its opening featured a dance demonstration by fancy shawl dancers and traditional Northern buckskin dancers.
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Each year, organizers of the popular fashion event travel across the country in search of up-and-coming designers to apply for Phoenix Fashion Week’s challenging 3-month designer bootcamp. This was Phoenix Fashion Week’s first live event since the pandemic began more than 2 years ago.
“I’m so proud of her,” said Elmer Flying Horse, Norma’s husband, when Norma was chosen designer of the year. “All his work and sacrifices were worth it.” The Flying Horse family left the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota during a blizzard that paralyzed most of the state for several days.
Phoenix Fashion Week mainly featured indigenous culture in this year’s program. Saturday’s opening act, Indigenous Enterprise, an Indigenous dance troupe that will perform at the Met Gala later this year. In 2021, Indigenous Enterprise participated in the “Virtual Parade” for the presidential nomination of Joe Biden.
Phoenix Fashion Week is a two-day curated event that showcases models, designers and fashion in the Southwest’s premier fashion event. The organization chose 40 models, women and men, to parade eight fashion shows a day in the clothes of the chosen designers.
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