Native/American Fashion: Inspiration, Appropriation and Cultural Identity - Welcome

Summary: The symposium Native/American Fashion: Inspiration, Appropriation, and Cultural Identity explores fashion as a creative endeavor and an expression of cultural identity, the history of Native fashion, issues of problematic cultural appropriation in the field, and examples of creative collaborations and best practices between Native designers and fashion brands. In this segment, Kevin Gover, director of the National Museum of the American Indian, and Ronald Milon, chief diversity officer of the Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York, welcome the audience and speakers. Kathleen Ash-Milby, associate curator of the National Museum of the American Indian, provides opening remarks.