I first met Maya Stewart a couple years ago during the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week events happening in Manhattan. She was selected by the New York-based Unreserved Alliance to join a couple other fashion designers and jewelry artists in bringing Native-made fashion to the international scene.Stewart is Chickasaw, Creek and Choctaw, and she comes from a family of fashion designers who were rocking the Oklahoma Native fashion scene in the 1980s (think Red Earth Powwow chic). At the New York Fashion Week open house event, Stewart had her latest purse collection on display, and the press loved her work, with several mentions in various online magazines and fashion reviews.
I was able to reconnect with her recently, and she shared the following news:
"I am now creative director/designer for a luxury handbag company, Jill Milan. It is wonderful because she mentions I am Chickasaw, Creek and Choctaw in our press kit."
Stewart also hinted at launching a new collection with some Southeastern Native influences later this year.
Click here to read a blog post with images of the Jill Milan collection, or click here to access the Jill Milan website.
