‘Denim Daydream’: Polo Ralph Lauren x Naiomi Glasses launch final collection

By Nicholas House
Navajo Times

SANTA FE – It was a family effort. And it was all in celebration of Diné Bikéyah, the culture, traditions, and the language.

Naiomi Glasses, launched her third and final drop, Denim Daydream, never thinking her dream of designing with Ralph Lauren would ever come true.

This Polo Ralph Lauren x Naomi Glasses newest monochromatic design subtlety highlights her weaving background. This indigo-forward collection captures inspiration from open blue skies from her home in Tsé Ntsaa Deez’áhí, Arizona, and her love for rodeo culture’s denim element in attire.

“I’m so grateful that this (collection) explores a different part of my life,” Glasses expresses. “Not a lot of people are aware that our family is so heavily involved in rodeo.”

On Thursday, Aug. 15, at the Malouf on the Plaza in Santa Fe, people were introduced to the collection’s debut. Glasses was surrounded by her family and friends to showcase the collection.

Glasses is Hashk’ąą Hadzohó and born for Tł’ááshchí’í. Her maternal grandfather is Áshįįhí, and her paternal grandfather is Tó’aheedlíinii.

Where her story begins

“How did this all come to happen?” Glasses asked, “like how did I get connected with the Ralph Lauren team?”

Glasses not knowing the capstones when enrolling into Creative Futures Collective, an opportunity ecosystem that brings exposure to overlooked, ignored, and forgotten talent, would have led her exactly to work with Ralph Lauren and his team. CFC is an organization that helps mentor and bring underrepresented talents in contact with the creative industry.

Early on, Glasses told Jai Al-Attas, Creative Futures Collective’s CEO and cofounder, that she wanted to work with Ralph Lauren. She was catered to have her dream come true as she was mentored through their curriculum. One of the assignments in her course, Glasses was tasked with developing a letter to a company and how that company would benefit from working together.

“When I wrote mine, I wrote, ‘Dear Mr. Lauren, I would love to work for your company Ralph Lauren because I would be the perfect person to bring an authentic lens to your clothing and it would be better to work with someone who is actually Native and show appreciation for the culture, not appropriation,’” Glasses said, recapturing her initial letter to Ralph Lauren.

Al-Attas met with a representative of the Ralph Lauren team and said he had a solo artist at Creative Futures Collective who wanted to work with Ralph Lauren.

“It’s Naiomi Glasses,” Al-Attas mentioned to them. The representative already knew of Glasses and told Al-Attas that the Ralph Lauren team had been trying to get into contact with Glasses and asked for Glasses’ contact information.

“It’s really so serendipitous how it happened because I wanted to work with them and they wanted to work with me and we were able to meet through Jai—and I’m so grateful,” Glasses said.

Family structure

All her life, Glasses has had a solid family structure. That was one of the key components of the success.

Tyler Glasses, Naiomi’s brother explained, “As a family, it’s hard to tell who has grown, we’ve always been close-knit. I don’t think that close-knit bond has decreased or increased.

“It’s always been so constant,” he continued. “We support each other in everything we do. But I do know I’ve seen Naiomi grow quite a bit from this. She’s usually a quiet person but when we would travel with her to board meetings she would be at the head of the table.” He is proud that his sister was proactively making sure that the Ralph Lauren team gave back to the community. “Every drop supported some cause (to the Native American communities),” Tyler said.
The first Polo Ralph Lauren x Naiomi Glasses drop, “Love of the Land,” helped Change Labs, a Native-led nonprofit shaping the landscape of entrepreneurship on tribal land. Change Labs supports the advancement of artists, vendors, and entrepreneurs within Native communities.

A percentage of sales from the second Polo Ralph Lauren x Naiomi Glasses drop, “Color in Motion, helped Phoenix Children’s Foundation’s Patient and Family Assistance Fund for Native American Families and the Center for Cleft and Craniofacial Care. Naiomi was a former patient as she had a bilateral cleft palate.

The last drop was a full circle moment as Ralph Lauren got back with Creative Futures Collective to create fund support for 10 future Native American creatives that commenced their path as Glasses started.

Family support

Cynthia Glasses, Naiomi’s mother, highlighted the family support factor being larger than their ménage.

“Her whole family, being her dad’s side, her mother’s side, her aunts and uncles, her cousins. They all made sure they were there for her, even like her mental health, making sure she eats, she hydrated,” Cynthia explained. “The simplest of things––It made her more confident.”

Cynthia is proud of the collaboration between her children, Naiomi and Tyler.

“Her brother was on the team. They would ask his advice on certain items, as far as he sees it. He does all of his photography work when they work with their companies. And he kinda is like her hair and makeup, and her outfit—stylist as well, and her creative director.” Ralph Lauren wanted to capture the authenticity of Naiomi and curate clothing around her aesthetic.

“In all the campaigns you can see her (authentic self). The way she would show up in anything, but you also see Ralph Lauren,” Cynthia said.

Naiomi Glasses’ aunt, on her mother’s side, was impressed with how an opportunity with a large company worked with Naiomi in the Navajo Nation to showcase the Diné cultural heritage and where she grew up. Her aunt knew it was never out of reach with her character: “I am so proud of Naiomi and her brother, Tyler.”
Naiomi’s cousin, Hunter, is proud of his family, and how these collections helped other Native artists’ representation to pursue other talents internationally and opened doors for not only herself but for her community and others. Hunter, who grew up off the Nation, explained he misses being home in the Navajo Nation and how these collections have captured the essence of his framework and family.

Highlighting other artists, and what’s next

Because Glasses wanted to share space with other Native talents and artists. Glasses worked with Native photographers, filmmakers, musicians, and many silversmiths and jewelers from different tribes.

“I’m grateful we were able to show how we as Indigenous people see ourselves. These happy people who faced—generational traumas and everything, that we could show this positive representation in the media,” Glasses said.

Glasses wants to continue pursuing collaborative work with other brands. She wants to have her story reach further audiences to give the influence that being from underrepresented and Native communities does not mean large dreams cannot be accomplished.

“I am not going to be the only artist-in-residence, I know they’re going to be others after me and I look forward to who is going to be after me,” she said.
Glasses wants to go back to where her story started as a weaver. “I want to find more time to weave because there are so many things I want to do with my weaving,” she said.

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