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• August 30, 2007
• Trend Spotting

Tom Tom Club

This autumn, it's a Native-American moment. By Erin Wylie

From left: Two looks from Mociun fall/winter 2007, Tashkent Carrow flat.

Musicians who commune with nature and get in touch with their inner shaman are nothing new (oh, Stevie Nicks!), and today's kindred spirits—Devendra Banhart, Bat for Lashes, and Sufjan Stevens—take their sartorial cues from Native American traditions. They sport feathered headbands, woven ponchos, and suede fringes. And lately, an assortment of big-name and indie designers are following their lead.

From left: Louis Vuitton feather and crystal necklace, two looks from Vena Cava fall/winter 2007.

Feathers—as a print, pattern, or exotic adornment—are the indices of the native trend, embodying its natural grandeur. Shocking white tufts of feathers lend a Louis Vuitton necklace with rough crystals a punk edge, while Rogues Gallery took a subtler route, accenting a T-shirt with a pair of quills. On the home-front, the wallpaper geniuses at Cavern drafted a mesmerizing design to decorate your livingroom walls.

From left:Mociun fall/winter 2007 look, Rogues Gallery feather T-shirt, Elizabeth Yaraborough feathered necklace.

On the runways Sportmax and Balenciaga explored a more colorful side of nativism, with oversized blocky Aztec patterns and blurred Ikat prints, while Brooklyn designer Caitlin Mociun covered T-shirts in a pattern evocative of arrowheads, and fellow Brooklynites Vena Cava used beading as an intricate embellishment on jackets and dresses. Other accessories we loved: Tashkent's suede Carrow flat, an earthy design made modern with contrast stitching and a flattering ankle tie. And jewelry, as it often is, is the arbiter of the trend: acid-bright wampum bead designs (Lisa Levine's Suncatcher earrings), more feathers and tassels from Elizabeth Yarborough, and bold plates necklaces from Marni have been used to enliven basic T-shirts since early spring, but for fall, they're just as fresh.

Balenciaga fall/winter 2007 look, Fenton & Fallon leather necklace, Marni fall/winter 2007 look.

This autumn, it's a Native-American moment.