Weaver Naiomi Glasses On Her Groundbreaking Polo Ralph Lauren Collaboration

Glasses duly composed a list of people she wanted to work with. At the very top? Ralph Lauren. It’s a dream she has manifested into reality, as the inaugural collaborator in Polo Ralph Lauren’s groundbreaking Artist in Residence program, which spotlights and helps preserve the skills of heritage craft makers – the third chapter of which has just launched. “The brand had already been researching artists they wanted to work with and then at the same time, I was expressing loudly to anyone who would hear me: ‘One day, I want to work with Ralph Lauren,’” she laughs, from her home in northeast Arizona, on a day where there’s the first “teensy bit” of fall in the air.

She traces her affection for the brand to her childhood in Phoenix and wearing the clothes. “Growing up, my mom used to put me in all these really cute little Polo Ralph Lauren dresses. I just really loved the brand.” She would visit the boutique in the city and remembers thinking, “It would be neat if one day I could see grandma’s rug weavings on one of their pieces.”

And now, in a way, she can. The third, special-edition collection sees Glasses rework her original designs into a collection inspired by the Dinétah (Navajo Nation) community and her personal history and family. Flared jeans, robust jacquard shirt-jackets, blankets and dresses have symbolic four-way cross motifs and come in a rich, evocative palette “that just really reminds me of the big blue skies here at home”. Glasses’ work shares a deep affection for America – an appreciation for its huge landscapes and epic stories.

“I brought it back to home where I get a lot of my inspiration from being with my family. It’s really based on my growing up going to rodeos with my dad, brother, uncles and cousins, and just how much I really enjoyed those times. We got to travel all over the Southwest and just be with each other,” she says of the inspirations. “Those times really stick with me and I wanted to do something that celebrated that.”

A love letter to her family (“Everything I do, I feel like I see my family and try to present the love that I have for them to the world”), people and her craft, Glasses praises the program as an opportunity for highlighting other artists – including the silversmiths from Navajo Nation, Hopi Pueblo, San Felipe Pueblo and Zuni Pueblo, whose jewelry the collection was styled with. “I want to be able to share this big platform with others as well,” she says. “It’s important that when one of us is able to get in, we try to bring as many others as we can,” she says.

Proud to be shining a light on her heritage and skills that have been developed over generations, Glasses hopes the intimacy of the work has broad appeal. “It’s made for everyone. The more that we have people who embrace our designs and know exactly where it’s coming from – especially when it’s designed by an actual Native person – that’s when it feels good and that’s what we want to see more of, more non-Natives embracing our traditionally designed pieces. I hope that when people wear these pieces, they know that an actual Native artist is behind them and that [by wearing the designs] they’re showing appreciation for our culture.”

How does she hope people feel wearing the collection? “I want people to feel empowered. I want them to feel all the love and energy that went into designing these pieces, because I didn’t just choose a design like, ‘Oh, this looks nice’… There was a lot of thought and intention that went into each and every design detail.”