LUMBEE 9>
She began looking at textiles representative of ceremony and heritage such as a quilt and shawl given to her by the matriarch of her family. She also explored family photo albums, focusing on the imagery from the 1950s/1960s. A recurring element that appeared throughout the family archives were images of cars. These everyday images give context to the reality of contemporary indigenous culture beyond the narrative of the stereotypical image of Native Americans.
Additionally, Briggs drew inspiration from the work of Indigenous artist Wendy Red Star. Red Star is known for her photographic documentation of Native American culture, playing off of common stereotypes and tropes of Native Americans and posing them in a pop culture light, encouraging Briggs to analyze contemporary Native American culture through the lens of pop culture in American style, specifically streetwear. The textiles of the collection are derived from streetwear archetypes such as the denim jacket, jeans, varsity jacket, tshirts, sweats, and sportswear jerseys; therefore the fabrics of the collection are denim, leather, wool, jersey, and mesh. There is an oversized element to the collection that is both reminiscent of streetwear as well the sense of “hand me down” garments representative of intergenerational passage.
By merging classic streetwear silhouettes with elements of contemporary Native American culture, the collection celebrates Native culture in an accessible way through everyday garments that enable the wearer to feel easily connected to their culture. As traditional ceremonies and regalia were forcefully stripped from Native communities and banned during colonization, the feeling of connection to culture through the expression of dress is incredibly important to young generations trying to preserve cultural knowledge and practice.
The archetypes of streetwear such as denim jackets, varsity jackets, and jerseys are reappropriated and reimagined through the lens of Native American contemporary culture with the use of fabric treatments, motifs, and prints. Hoodies, denim, and other casual wear is combined with the decorative elements of ceremonial regalia such as jingles, ribbons, fringes, and quilting. Briggs also designed and created her own varsity style patches inspired by symbolic motifs of her culture such as the traditional medicine wheel or the numbers 68 and 40, which represent 1968 and 1940, the years her mother and grandmother were born, respectively, tying back to the idea of matriarchy and generational passage.
By taking elements of ceremonial garments such as the "Fancy Dance" shawl with the fringes and combining them with streetwear garments such as a sportswear jersey, she creates a jersey and shorts combination covered in multicolored fringe-like ribbons that abstract the quilting pattern underneath to become a dynamic dress like silhouette. Briggs also reimagines the traditional "Jingle Dress" by attaching small metal cones, known as jingles, to a denim vest and shorts. By utilizing the motif of the car from both her family archives as well as Red Star’s work, she created a print that further demonstrates the merging of Native American culture with streetwear. She uses Red Star’s imagery as print inspiration by experimenting with different ways to translate the print onto fabric, using techniques such as screenprinting. Every aspect of the collection is intimately tied to Briggs' cultural heritage and identity in this graphic interpretation of indigenous streetwear.