The Hunkpapa Lakota designer from South Dakota also shines light on Indigenous communities through fashion.
“I want to capture that black and white image of Indigenous people that people see in the museums and perceive to be like we don’t exist,” she says. “I’m going to make this collection an immersion of black and white.”
Sharing that message with a large stage means a lot to Lookinghorse-Smith, who hopes to bring light to a dark history.
“To be a part of Phoenix Fashion Week has been a blessing because it came out of left field,” she says. “It means so much to me having the support of my family and community; to be encouraged to be in that space.”
Lookinghorse-Smith has always had a passion for fashion design, and recently has been able to find time for it between raising four children and making a home for her family.
“For a number of years I’ve been wanting to create a brand and designs. I had sketches for years, but I always would put something in front of myself that would prevent me from doing it. So, I’m making the time to do it and finding the time that works best for me,” she says. “I literally have been breastfeeding and sewing and making dresses.”
Lookinghorse-Smith is grassroots in everything she does, from sewing her own dresses to creating her own labels and packing her own orders. She puts everything she has into creating a unique design with an Indigenous twist. Nothing leaves her care without being perfect.
Being self-taught with no formal training has given Lookinghorse-Smith an edge. By attending conferences hosted by luxury brands to learn more about branding and network building, she’s been able to begin teaching from home.
Living in Southampton, New York, far from her family and tribe in South Dakota, she has to make time to travel home to continue learning.
“A lot of this generational artisan work is what’s being utilized to make some of the couture garments that I do, like the jackets and adding the elements into them,” she said. “I don’t have any formal training in fashion. A lot of this has come more from generational family art and influence.”
Along with finding inspiration from her family, Lookinghorse-Smith keeps her community close to her heart and her work. Her goal is to empower women around her and she has started hiring single mothers needing an income to help her with basic stitching and sewing.
“That’s more rewarding for me to know that it’s not just about me and my family,” she says. “It’s also about, ‘How do I encourage my sisters and my friends to grow?’”
While Phoenix Fashion Week is quite a milestone for the designer, Lookinghorse-Smith’s ambitions don’t stop there. Some of her goals after Phoenix Fashion Week are to expand internationally and boost sustainability within her brand by utilizing domestic resources.
“Fashion for me is one way that opens up conversation on a global scale because people want to see Indigenous,” she says. And she’s also making strides toward her goal of going international.
Lookinghorse-Smith is an honorary board member of New Generation in Action, a nonprofit dedicated to creating and implementing programs focused on issues related to women empowerment, Indigenous people in underserved communities, and youth. She is also affiliated with the Artisan Festival International World Peace Initiative, an organization founded by Queen Angelique Monet Gureje-Thompson, the Queen Consort of Eti-Oni, to promote world peace for underrepresented communities across the globe and sustainability. Lookinghorse-Smith also consults in the Queen’s Native American Cultural Preservation Department.
Photography by Brandon Woller
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“Once you stay in that positive mind set and you’re just working hard at what you do, you meet the right people and the timing just happens to work,” she says.
Creating sustainable, elegant clothing with a purpose and a message is a goal that Lookinghorse-Smith is proud to accomplish. She wants to leave a legacy for her children.
“For me that would be empowering for my children to know that they have this right to be here,” she says. “This is their land.”
Stacy Thacker (Navajo) is a freelance journalist based in New Mexico. Thacker has reported on Indigenous news, features and tribal communities for over 10 years. She has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Montana School of Journalism and a Master of Legal Studies in Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy from the University of Arizona.
