At the 2025 Far North Fashion Show in Anchorage, Indigenous designers drew inspiration from their Alaska Native cultures with the theme “The Water Collection.”
Alaska has a coastline of 6,640 miles, and many Native communities are located along coasts and near lakes and rivers. Water is all around in the rain, waves, frost, snow and ice.
“The color of the Kenai [River]…and the glaciers, I love that teal water color,” said Jackie Qataliña Schaeffer, an Iñupiaq artist and fashion designer who was featured in the show. Her work is based on the elements of nature using the traditional Native value of not wasting anything. “We utilize all aspects of animals and plants, and so I decided to do a vintage upcycle or redesign to honor past designers, as well as Indigenized fashion from the past, and reflect that,” said Schaeffer…