LOREN ARAGON
Area of Expertise: Fashion
"People just automatically assume we're just all about teepees and war bonnets, when really [Indigenous] culture is a whole lot more detailed than that...I choose to represent my culture using things that I've experienced and things that I have learned as an engineer and as an artist and incorporating that into something different and staying away from a lot of the stereotypical ideas that are always shown on the runway."
Loren Aragon is a fashion designer, artist and mechanical engineer from the Acoma Pueblo of New Mexico. Together with his wife, Valentina (Navajo), he runs ACONAV: a couture fashion brand inspired by the strength of Acoma and Navajo matrilineal cultures. By centring the matriarch, Loren aims to both empower women throughout the world and represent Indigenous ways of life.
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