Fashion takes the stage at the Western Navajo Fair
TÓNANEESDIZÍ
The Western Navajo Fair’s fashion show is more than a display of clothes and creativity, said Kristen Goldtooth. It’s a moment of pride – one that blends tradition, innovation and the voices of local designers who are finding their way onto a growing stage.
“With the fair this year, the fashion show, what we’re doing is what we have done in the past,” said Goldtooth, the fashion show coordinator for the 57th Annual Western Navajo Fair. “We have designers coming out this year, and we’ve tried to keep it more local, more Western Navajo.”
The event will feature returning names and new faces from Tuba City, each bringing distinct designs that tell their own stories. “We do have Penny Singer,” she said. “She’s Diné. And then we have Milford Calamity, and then we have five designers coming out of Tuba City this year.”
The lineup includes KH Nez Designs, Asdzáá Nessie, Shannon Tallsalt of Sal Alta Designs and Pumkinz, a designer originally from Tuba City who now works out of Chicago.
Celebration of local creativity
Goldtooth said the show gives designers space to celebrate their identity and creativity through both traditional and modern styles.
“With the fashion show, it gives our local designers to be able to incorporate Diné culture and their designs on our traditions,” she said. “Show just new stuff, creative ways to blend not only traditional, but contemporary.”
The fair’s audience, she said, often finds connection through these designs. “It’s just a way for people to express themselves the way they feel, the way that we’re resilient,” she said. “That we still are able to take traditional designs that have been generations coming and then having the modern twist put on them.”
To read the full article, please see the Oct. 16, 2025, edition of the Navajo Times.
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