A night of fashion, pride ... despite losses

Sandra Hale Schulman
Special to ICT

All the love shown for Reservation Dogs – and Lily Gladstone and Kali Reis and D’Pharoah Woon-A-Tai – being nominated for Emmys didn’t translate to award wins on Sunday night, but the visibility, Indigenous designs, and a stunner of a message slapped onto Woon-A-Tai’s face reverberated around the world.

Reservation Dogs was up for four nominations: Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Lead Actor, Picture Editing and Cinematography. Still, the joyous cast and crew posed up a storm on the red carpet, dressed in their mix of Native accessories and designer dresses and suits.

Show creator Sterlin Harjo wore Kenneth Johnson’s gleaming silver eagle gorget and Love Knot rings; Dallas Goldtooth piled on Ataumbi Metals jewelry. Paulina Alexis had a baby on board.

Woon-A-Tai made the most dramatic statement of all in a black Armani suit, Lionel Thundercloud jewelry, newly shorn hair, and an unmissable red painted hand mark across his face as a message of solidarity for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.

This striking gesture draws attention to the growing MMIW movement. Use of a painted red hand stands for all the missing women whose voices are not heard, the silence of the media, law enforcement and oppression of Native women.

Oscar nominee, Golden Globe winner and Under the Bridge star Lily Gladstone glowed at the event where she was nominated for playing officer Cam Bentland investigating the murder of a young girl.

“I am so touched by this nomination,” Lily said in a statement after it had been announced. “I wholeheartedly share the honor with the stellar cast of Under the Bridge, who brought such deep compassion and unmatched talent to telling Reena Virk’s story. Every beating heart onscreen gave so much of themselves to honor her legacy, and I’d especially like to thank Vritika, Archie and Riley, I am so inspired by you all. Thank you to Quinn Shephard, Samir Mehta, Liz Tigelaar, Stacey Silverman, Gina Gammell, and Riley Keough for bringing this story to light and being champions of radical empathy. I’m forever grateful to have been brought along for the journey.”

Gladstone wasn’t totally on board at first.

“After Killers of the Flower Moon, seeing another true-crime piece, I leaned away a little bit,” Gladstone told Vogue of the adaptation. “Seeing an Indigenous woman cop, I thought, ‘That’s a really huge chunk of the representation you have onscreen for Indigenous actresses.’ I think I, a lot of performers, hope that there’s room to expand and grow and contextualize the character.”

Gladstone wore a black velvet gown by Rodarte with a large floral-inscribed bronze chest plate, cuff, and rings by Agnes Seaweed Wisden of Sea Wisdom Design from Vancouver. Her makeup was by Petra Battiest, Seminole of @paintedbypetra.

On Agnes Wisden’s Instagram she wrote: “Beautiful @lilygladstone in a custom chest plate by myself, along with rings and bracelet! Many generations of creative makers are in my inherited lineage as a Kwakwaka’wakw and British woman. My traditional name is ?lilawikw. It was gifted to me by our people through our Potlatch system and includes me in a long line of traditions fought for and celebrated. Its meaning translates to English as ‘Gatherer of the People.’”

Former boxer Kali Reis, Seaconke Wampanoag, was nominated for Best Supporting Actress, and the show she was in, True Detective: Night Country, nominated for Best Series. Reis plays Alaskan state trooper Evangeline Navarro investigating mysterious deaths in the Alaskan tundra.

On the red carpet, Reis said of her velvet suit and feathers in her hair, ”Purple is the color of Wampum and Wampum is the Quahog shell which we make jewelry out of. And the more purple it is, the more valuable it is, and we did a lot of trading. That was basically currency of the Wampanoag people, people of the Northeast, our first form of currency and basically to show your status. So, purple means the world to me, it means a lot and I just really want to represent where I come from in the Northeast Woodland tribe people. I represent my people with the Wampum. We put a lot of thought into just being. Sure I represent, because we don't get to see this often. These feathers were gifted to me by elders back home. I'm really proud to be able to represent our people.”

Marvel’s Echo was up for Outstanding Fantasy Sci-fi Costume Design.

Despite the losing streak, it is a win to be nominated and seen in the mainstream. The only Native American nominated for an Emmy previously is the late August Schellenberg for his role as Sitting Bull in Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee in 2007.

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