Artist Spotlight: Bethany Yellowtail
Artist Spotlight is a fashion-focused segment that takes a deep dive into the unique backstories and their creative processes. Highlighting the fashion industry's hidden gems and innovative talents.
Bethany Yellowtail is a Native American ready-to-wear fashion designer who was raised in Montana and has a heritage from both the Northern Cheyenne and the Crow Nation tribes. When Bethany was 18 years old she moved to Los Angeles, California to study fashion at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. She graduated in 2009 and then went on to start her fashion label in Los Angeles in 2014. Bethany is the owner of B.Yellowtail and B.Yellowtail Collective. Her brand focuses on her ancestral tradition through the designs of skirts, tops, pants, accessories, and dresses. The brand also celebrates her heritage by using indigenous patterns and motifs such as the Crow rose prints. Bethany’s second label B.Yellowtail Collective is centered around supporting and empowering native artists all across the Great Plains tribal region. Bethany’s work in the Native American community through fashion caught the attention of Anna Wintour, who invited her to speak on behalf of the Native Americans at a panel discussion about diversity within the fashion industry. Bethany continues to create awareness for the Native American community in fashion and help support them as well.
Sources:
alter-NATIVE | Indie Lens Storycast. (2018, November 14). [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh_qdzak59m4_yZzJOZa3BW1Rhm0pOMab
An Interview with Alter-NATIVE’s Bethany Yellowtail –. (2018, May 2). Design*Sponge. http://www.designsponge.com/2018/05/an-interview-with-alter-natives-bethany-yellowtail.html
BETHANY YELLOWTAIL ON SUPPORTING COMMUNITY AND CULTURE. (2021, June 10). Cfda. https://cfda.com/news/bethany-yellowtail-on-supporting-community-and-culturees;
alter-NATIVE | Indie Lens Storycast. (2018, November 14). [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh_qdzak59m4_yZzJOZa3BW1Rhm0pOMab
An Interview with Alter-NATIVE’s Bethany Yellowtail –. (2018, May 2). Design*Sponge. http://www.designsponge.com/2018/05/an-interview-with-alter-natives-bethany-yellowtail.html
BETHANY YELLOWTAIL ON SUPPORTING COMMUNITY AND CULTURE. (2021, June 10). Cfda. https://cfda.com/news/bethany-yellowtail-on-supporting-community-and-culture