Hopi shirts feature old photos

Hopi designer makes high fashion accessible

By Rosanda Suetopka ThayerAt age 42, Hopi designer Wendell Sakiestewa has made some great strides in blending his Hopi heritage with contemporary design experience and study to the forefront of fashion clothing and an appreciative art world audience.

Featured at the recent Smoki Museum's Sixth Annual Indian Arts Festival, Sakiestewa was extremely busy in his booth, discussing fabric, ideas and design with a fast moving crowd who were purchasing his one-of-kind shirts. The shirts are printed with old Hopi historical photographs using a unique process called "plastisol." He also offered his own blend of super soft long and short sleeved cotton shirts for women that had both puff-paint designs and traditional Hopi kilt patterns screened onto the one shouldered tees.Comment:  For more on Native fashion, see Kiowa Designer Beads Shoes and Aztec, Inca, and Avatar-Inspired Fashion.

Below:  "An example of Wendell Sakiestewa’s “plastisol” screen-printed shirts featuring historic Hopi photographs printed directly onto the clothing. Due to the unique process, the images will not fade. Sakiestewa’s clothing line WEN*SAKS is based out of Los Angeles, Calif."