BRIGHTON — Tribal members were models for a day as they walked the “runway” at the Brighton Boys & Girls Club on July 16 for a fashion show of Seminole patchwork through the ages, sponsored by the Education Department and the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum.

The event proved to be popular as all the seats in the BGC music room were full of guests while others stood on the sides and in the back of the room.

The partnership between the museum and Education emerged through a federal grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The goal of the grant is to support education through acquisition of projection equipment for educational presentations and promote life-long learning by increasing tribal members’ knowledge of accessing digital information.

“The purpose of the grant is to conduct presentations and workshops at all tribal libraries,” said tribalwide library program supervisor Padmini Dukharan. “We’ve hosted 12 events over the last year, including computer literacy. We’ve showcased Seminole history and culture with the museum with this fashion show and another in Immokalee.”

BGC member Maddox Osceola, 12, opened the show by performing a grass dance with an accompanying traditional drum and song recording.

Museum curator Tara Backhouse presented a slide show of historic patchwork items from the museum’s vault. She said some items were so old that if they were left in the light for too long, they would degrade quickly.

Backhouse explained each photo of the clothing from the mid-1800s to present day. A few pieces from the late 1800s were made before patchwork was created and were decorated with bands of appliqued fabrics.

The tribe began using sewing machines in 1910. By the 1920s, patchwork began to develop and was used on skirts, capes and big shirts.

In the mid-20th century, the clothing evolved and more bands of patchwork were commonly used on the colorful clothing. Jackets also appeared at this time. From the 1960s to the 1990s, the clothing became more vibrant and creative. The creation of vests began in this period.

“A lot of the clothing from that time were sold to tourists,” Backhouse said. “Now we are seeing some of those items being returned to the museum. It’s nice to see they are finally coming home.”

The museum would like to add more modern pieces to the collection, which only goes up to the year 2000. Backhouse said they would like to promote contemporary artists’ garments.
The goal of the fashion show was to bring the patchwork to life, which is exactly what the models did as they sashayed, strutted and swaggered down the runway, to the delight of the audience.

The models were Evangelina Billie, Kyla Billie, Lois Billie, Sarafina Billie, Chandler DeMayo, Kyle Doney, Amalia Estrada, Malcolm Jones and Viola Tiger.