Cowboys & Indians Honors Project Runway Designer

Cowboys & Indians magazine in its May/June Third Annual Best of the West issue contained an article by Amy Pallas about Patricia Michael, the Taos, NM designer who is competing in Project Runway’s 11th season.  The article quotes Ms. Michaels, a Pueblo Indian, as saying:

“I hope my participation in Project Runway shatters the stereotypes and shows an honest portrayal of a Native American woman who creates fashion influenced by both traditional Native culture and by the ever-changing world around us.”

In this evenings segment, Patricia was one  four finalists competing for the opportunity to present a collection at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week.  Each contestant presented three of their twelve designs for review by Zak Poson, Nina Garcia and Heidi Klum.  One of Patricia’s designs was a black cape on which she had attached a zig zag design of white horse hair.  Zak Poson, Heidi Klum and I loved it, although Nina Garcia did not.  But it was definitely influenced by her Native culture in a fashion forward design.

Why am I telling you this?  Because she did win a place as one of the three finalists.  It is nice, especially this week,  to see someone’s dream come true.