Naiomi Glasses marries Navajo culture, a passsion for skate and a love for one’s roots for Polo Ralph Lauren’s Artist in Residence programme.
Naiomi Glasses is Polo Ralph Lauren’s artist of choice for their inaugural Artist in Residence programme. For its second iteration, the seventh-generation Navajo weaver opts for a capsule that is deeply personal. A befitting role, given Ralph Lauren’s legacy as an all-American label. Beyond the typical haunts of the East or West Coast, Polo Ralph Lauren’s artist-in-residence now spotlights a community close to her — the Navajo people.
Staple Polo Ralph Lauren pieces are saturated with wedge weave motifs and brights in the shades of turquoise, orange, yellow and red. In the place of deerskin shirts are pieces like the Coach’s Jacket, all recollective of Glasses’ personal brand — that she is a 21st-century Diné, a textile creative and a woman in touch with her passions. And thus births the gateway to modern-day representations of customs.
Printed step diamonds and four-directional crosses are realised on water-resistant recycled polyester, with the traditional motifs bearing significance for the numerical representation of Navajo philosophy, in symbolising the Earth’s four directions and the stars. The muse for the jacket transcends that of her culture, to borrow from her father’s personal, athletic style. A bulk of the 24-piece capsule is too, skate-ready, a nod to Glasses’ affection for the sport. These contemporary design philosophies are set up to allow Glasses to always enmesh her roots — of yesterday and tomorrow — and never negate.
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