From New York to Possibilities, Cheering on the Next Generation

 

From New York to Possibilities

I am thrilled to share that Lauryn and Paris, along with a local Indigenous designer, Tyree Honani, have been accepted into Indigenous Fashion Week in New York City this September. Tyree is Hopi/Navajo, Lauryn is Hopi/Navajo, and Paris is Hopi, Sac & Fox, Shawnee & Creole from Hotevilla, Hopi Lands, now in Chandler, Arizona.

For these young people to step into New York Fashion Week as a designer and models—bringing their beauty, confidence, cultural grounding, and community with them—is an extraordinary moment. It is also a reminder that when we create meaningful platforms for Indigenous voices, relationships and opportunities can grow in ways we may not immediately see.

Indigenous New York Fashion Week (INYFW) is emerging as an important new component of the New York Fashion Week landscape, bringing Indigenous designers, artists, models, and cultural leaders into one of the industry’s most visible international forums. Officially listed on the CFDA’s 2026 NYFW calendar, the Indigenous-led platform expands what NYFW can represent: not only trendsetting and commerce, but also cultural continuity, creative authority, and Indigenous sovereignty.


By centering contemporary Indigenous fashion on its own terms, INYFW challenges the industry’s longstanding tendency to treat Indigenous design as inspiration or spectacle rather than as authored, living work. Its runway shows, live-streamed from Rockefeller Center, will carry that intervention beyond the immediate fashion audience in New York—making Indigenous creativity and leadership part of the larger public conversation around the week.

I first met the Tso Family- Lauryn, Paris, Tracy, and Chef Jero through the Native chef events I produced in Arizona and then again in New York City in 2024 and 2025 with Experience Scottsdale, Condé Nast, and Bon Appétit. What began with a shared commitment to Indigenous foodways grew into a relationship I deeply value. I have come to know them as a kind, loving family—one rooted in cultural knowledge, generous with each other, and supportive of the young people stepping into new worlds of fashion, media, leadership, and design.

That journey will continue this November, when the family will join us at The Architecture of Indigenous Flavor & Fashion at Taliesin West. Chef Jero, Tracy, Paris, and Lauryn will be part of an evening that brings Indigenous foodways, contemporary fashion, cultural leadership, and intergenerational creativity together in one extraordinary setting.

Indigenous Foodways Open Doors

For me, Indigenous foodways have always been about much more than what is served on a plate. Food carries land, seed, labor, memory, story, survival, family, ceremony, and future possibilities. When we create space for Native chefs and food traditions, we are also creating room for Indigenous people to be recognized as contemporary artists, innovators, designers, storytellers, and leaders.

That is what our New York programs were built to do.

In 2024 and 2025, I produced Native chef events with Experience Scottsdale, Condé Nast, and Bon Appétit, bringing Indigenous culinary talent and cultural programming into Condé Nast headquarters at the World Trade Center. The audience included approximately 300 journalists, editors, writers, food leaders, and cultural influencers from across publications including Vogue, Bon Appétit, The New Yorker, and Town & Country.

Chef Jero’s culinary work was part of that larger conversation about Indigenous foodways: a living expression of culture, place, technique, and creativity. Tracy expanded that conversation through a corn-grinding demonstration in our gallery exhibition, giving guests a direct connection to the knowledge, care, and family histories carried through Indigenous foods.

The family also shared cultural expression through performance. Paris and Lauryn participated in a traditional Hopi-Diné performance group with Denella Belin’s daughter, working alongside Tracy’s father. Lauren, Leader and Elder in the Hopi Sun Clan, was part of a beautiful intergenerational sharing of song, dance, and traditional knowledge. Watching young people learn alongside elders—and then carry that knowledge into public spaces—was especially meaningful.

A Family in Full Bloom

One night in 2024, after I had finished producing the event and gone back to the hotel exhausted, Tracy and the family received backstage access with a Vogue editor-photographer. They visited the Vogue photography studios, took photographs, and made connections within a media world that can often feel far removed from Indigenous communities.

Lauryn especially made an impression. I remember walking through lunch and seeing her sitting with Condé Nast leaders, engaged in easy and confident conversation. They genuinely enjoyed meeting her. I encouraged her to follow up, stay connected, and understand that people had seen something special in her.

I told her, “When you are on the cover of Vogue, don’t forget me.”

Of course, I was joking—but only a little. I want to see Lauren shine. I want to see Paris shine. And I want to see all Indigenous young people have access to rooms, opportunities, and creative platforms that honor who they are rather than asking them to leave their identities at the door.

Their acceptance into Indigenous Fashion Week is part of that larger story. Indigenous fashion is not a footnote to mainstream fashion. It is contemporary, visionary, deeply personal, and rooted in the creative authority of Indigenous people themselves. It is expressed through material, silhouette, color, technique, heritage, community, and relationship to place.

Lauren and Paris are carrying that energy with them to New York.

The Architecture of Indigenous Flavor & Fashion

Their fashion-week journey is also directly connected to what we are creating in Arizona this fall.

The Architecture of Indigenous Flavor & Fashion at Taliesin West will celebrate contemporary Indigenous design, cultural heritage, Indigenous foodways, and the creative authority of Indigenous artists. Set against the desert landscape and iconic architecture of Taliesin West, the program will bring together Indigenous designers, Tribal Royalty, models, chefs, artists, and guests for an evening centered on artistry, identity, craftsmanship, leadership, and living cultural expression.

The family will be part of this special event, helping bring the connection between Indigenous flavor and fashion to life. Chef Jero’s work reflects the beauty and sophistication of Indigenous foodways. Tracy’s cultural knowledge reminds us that food begins with family, hands, history, and land. Paris and Lauryn represent the next generation: grounded in tradition while moving confidently into fashion, media, design, and leadership.

Congratulations, Lauren and Paris & Tyree

Congratulations to Lauren, Tyree, and Paris on Indigenous Fashion Week. Take all the pictures. Make every connection. Enjoy New York. Let your beauty shine.

And to Tracy and Chef Jero: thank you for trusting me, collaborating with me, and bringing your family’s warmth, talent, and cultural presence into every space we have shared.

I cannot wait to celebrate all of you again at Taliesin West.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey

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