Ever since her very first Killers of the Flower Moon premiere, Lily Gladstone has been using the red carpet to spotlight Indigenous designers. The actor—who is breaking ground this year as the first Native American actor to be nominated for an Oscar—has used her fashion choices a meaningful medium to uplift the artists within her own community.
Gladstone first burst onto the Hollywood scene at the Cannes Film Festival, where she hit the step and repeat in a pair of dentalium shell earrings by Jamie Okuma. Since then, she’s worn even more Indigenous labels, including Pamela Himikalas Baker and Elias Jade Not Afraid, to name a few.
Last night, Gladstone kept the momentum going. While receiving the Virtuosos Award at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, she wore one of the brightest rising stars in the Indigenous fashion world. Styled by Jason Rembert, Gladstone hit the red carpet in an architectural top made of duck feathers—a striking design by Jontay Kahm, a Plains Cree designer (profiled for Vogue here) who draws inspiration from traditional powwow regalia. “I wanted to touch on my Native culture and elements of traditional regalia—using obvious shapes and silhouettes, but making it more fashion,” he told Vogue last year. The top features 2,000 feathers and was completed in two weeks.
Kahm’s sculptural, feathered creations have become one of his signature elements—and Gladstone allowed hers to shine, pairing it with sleek black trousers.
In a space like Hollywood where Native representation is still very much on the rise—both on the big screen and on the red carpets—Gladstone’s clear focus on championing Indigenous designers like Kahm is both poignant and refreshing. And standing tall in her avant-garde top, it was just downright fabulous, too. Now, the question is: Who will she wear to the Oscars? We're on the edge of our seat.
