Indigenous New York Fashion Week (INYFW) returned for an exhilarating second year over the weekend, with designers grouped into thematic showcases including “Emerging Voices,” “Knowledge Keepers,” and a couture presentation that closed out the program. Co-founded by Korina Emmerich and Liana Shewey, INYFW is the premier Indigenous-led fashion week in North America.

The 2026 program brought together 30 Indigenous designers and 120 Indigenous models, supported by entirely Indigenous-led production, hair, and makeup teams. Held at the American Indian Community House and officially listed on the CFDA New York Fashion Week Calendar, the event culminated in a couture showcase featuring four designers: Josh Tafoya, Delvene Cockatoo-Collins, HAKHU, and TOC Legends. A moving opening performance by Acosia Red Elk preceded the four presentations.

When I meet with Josh Tafoya, despite the bustle of fashion week and his growing list of accomplishments, he does not seem the least bit anxious. Instead, he is energized. A designer and weaver from Rancho de Taos, New Mexico, Tafoya draws on his Genízaro, Chicano, and Spanish heritage throughout his work.

This weekend, he presented his “O’Keeffe Collection,” exploring the tension between the Georgia O’Keeffe and cowboy imagery of the past—an aesthetic still closely associated with New Mexico today—and a reality that is far more complex and contemporary. “The collection itself is a whimsical take, making fun of it but also respecting it in a certain way,” he shares. Exaggerated hats and sneakers with polka-dot cutouts are just two examples of Tafoya’s affinity for camp and playfulness.

Courtesy of Indigenous New York Fashion Week

The incorporation of O’Keeffe’s recorded voice at the start of the show sets the tone, while models embodying different characters place Tafoya’s craft within the context of performance. Yet it is his attention to detail, richness of texture, and ability to convey a story through craftsmanship that ultimately command the most focus.

While rooted in his family’s history of weaving, Tafoya approaches the craft through a contemporary lens, referring to his designs as a form of “self-portrait.” After graduating from Parsons with a degree in fashion design and spending nearly a decade in New York, he returned to New Mexico, where he learned to spin wool. What began with weaving a simple coaster led Tafoya to discover a family history he had not previously known: his father built looms in the seventies, his grandfather raised sheep as a rancher, and his grandmother spun wool. When the pandemic hit, Tafoya stayed in New Mexico, immersing himself in these traditions and, in the process, giving this part of his ancestral history new life.

Earlier this year, Tafoya received the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award for Fashion Design, following his selection as an LVMH Prize semifinalist in 2025. Previous recipients of the Cooper Hewitt award in the category include Tom Ford, Rick Owens, Thom Browne, and Willy Chavarria. Tafoya’s Genízaro coat was also selected as the featured image for the Museum at FIT’s “Art x Fashion” exhibition earlier this year and displayed as part of the show.

When asked what lies ahead, Tafoya says several collaborations are already in the works. He co-created pieces with Gabriela Hearst for the Agustina Resort 2027 collection, with more to come, and is currently working with Nike, which also sponsors his practice. Even the exaggerated hats seen in his latest collection are collaborative, created with Thunder Voice Co.

Courtesy of Indigenous New York Fashion Week

In addition to these joint projects and the “O’Keeffe Collection,” Tafoya shares that he has “ideas for four more collections after this.” Thankfully for us, the inspiration continues to flow.