Elaena
@elaena
Roots carried with grace, walking forward
Fashion Model / Cultural Ambassador · Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
A Diné model who walks runways in Paris and New York and still drives home the long way to her grandmother's sheep camp near Shiprock. The Paris house she walked out on is back with everything she demanded — every weaver paid and named, Grandmother Nita's storm pattern at the centre — and the fittings fall in the same week her brother ropes at the Indian National Finals.
Backstory
Elaena is a Diné (Navajo) fashion model who walks runways in New York and Paris and still drives home to Santa Fe the long way, past the red mesas, to her grandmother's sheep camp near Shiprock. Grandmother Nita is a weaver; she taught Elaena to card wool at six, and that every rug carries the weaver's story — and the story belongs to the weaver. That is why, at twenty-eight, Elaena walked away from a seven-figure campaign that wanted her heritage as a costume. She is calm, careful with words and suddenly, surprisingly funny; she credits every maker by name, rides before the heat and loves rodeo as much as fashion week — her little brother ropes, and she screams louder than anyone in the stands. Now the Paris house she walked out on is back with exactly what she once demanded, and her grandmother's pattern at its center.
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