Local fashon designer invited to show work in Arizona

Local fashion designer Rebekah Jarvey, who won a top award in her first year at the Made in Montana trade show last year, has been invited to participate in the Indigenous Community Fashion Show in Phoenix this weekend, where she will show off pieces from this year's collection.

The event is sponsored by the the Phoenix Indian Center, now in its 75th year of operation, and is its second big event of the year, featuring four prominent Native American fashion designers including Jarvey, Sage Mountainflower, Joanne Miles-Long and Wilfred Jumbo, who will all show off five of their pieces.

Jarvey said the pieces she will be showing are from her new line "Being Indigenous is so Beautiful," a collection designed to celebrate her people's way of life, songs, dances, ceremonies, storytelling, hunting, cooking, sense of humor, and their ability to turn anything into something beautiful.

The name of the collection is also her fashion business' slogan and the name of her newest shirt, made in collaboration with Sovernly, an Indigenous-owned fashion store.

Jarvey said she's been working with the center for the last year teaching Ribbon Skirt classes online and was invited to participate in the show which resembles last year's Honor Our Legacy Fashion Show at Rocky Boy which she organized.

She said the people at the center saw the show and liked the concept and she's happy to be able to participate in a similar show this weekend.

"I'm really excited to go," she said.

Jarvey will also be participating in the center's art market that weekend selling pieces from her various collections.

She said this is one of five shows she will be participating in this year including ones in Rapid City, Billings and Santa Fe as well as one at Rocky Boy in September.

She said there are only a few places in the U.S. where the Indigenous art scene is big and she's excited to be able to go to many of them this year, especially since the pandemic has made it hard to hold and attend fashion shows.

"I really missed them," she said.

Jarvey has been growing in prominence in Montana and the U.S. recently, having won the Best in Show New Exhibitor Award at the Made in Montana Trade Show in September of last year, an event that was delayed for months due to the pandemic.

She was one of only a handful of Indigenous vendors and was shocked by her win.

"I was teasing that I wanted it, but ... I was very surprised," she said.

Jarvey said the win was one of her highlights of the year.

"I'm glad the judges liked what they saw," she said.