Alumni

Grad Bethany Yellowtail Designs Natives Vote Campaign

Northern Cheyenne & Crow designer Bethany Yellowtail, a 2009 graduate of the Fashion Design program at FIDM, has been featured in publications such as Vogue and People for her fashion and accessories brand, B. Yellowtail. The L.A.-based label, whose tagline is “Indigenously designed for all,” specializes in storytelling through wearable art in the form of apparel, accessories, and handmade jewelry by a collective of Native American, First Nation, and Indigenous creators. 

Bethany recently created a collection of Natives Vote products, along with Native American artist Steven Paul Judd, that includes t-shirts, masks, and tote bags, to raise awareness around voting with merchandise sales benefiting Native communities. In addition, masks designed by Bethany, who hails from the southeastern region of Montana, were recently featured at a socially distanced fashion show at Montana State University’s 2020 American Indian Heritage Day. 

Prior to founding her own brand in 2015 with business partner Kim Meraz, Bethany worked at BCBG Max Azria Group and Kellwood Company. The designer has starred in a six-part docuseries, titled Alter-Native, and uses her sizable platform to spotlight social justice issues. In addition to her own line, she launched the B. Yellowtail Collective, a retail platform on her website that highlights and supports other Indigenous artists who hail from Tribal Nations throughout North America. 

“I realized there is so much [cultural appropriation] going on that I decided I am not even going to get mad anymore, but I decided I was going to do something about it,” Yellowtail told the Los Angeles Times. “Ultimately, I want to let my work become a learning opportunity and design pieces with cultural integrity.”

Visit byellowtail.com and @byellowtail on Instagram for more information.

Categories:  Fashion Design Alumni