Cultural Couture Shined at the 2025 Santa Fe Indian Market

This weekend, the 2025 Santa Fe Indian Market kicked off in New Mexico—a one-of-a-kind event from SWAIA that remains one of the capital city’s main attractions. The annual market, which is now in its 103rd year, gathers Indigenous artists across North America, all of whom come to sell and display their authentic, handcrafted works.

Early Saturday morning, as over 1,000 vendors set up their outdoors booths surrounding the main plaza, you could already find an impressive roster of artists from different regions, tribes, and mediums (including jewelry, fine art, pottery, textiles, and more). As usual, gaggles of serious fashion and art collectors—many of whom traverse the globe to attend the market every year—were already lined up at their favorite artists’ booths well before the sun even rose, ready to score that special piece. (For those who have yet to attend, this is no quaint little farmer’s market: Some pieces from established artists can go for upwards of $50,000.)

Prime shopping opportunities, however, were not all that this year’s Indian Market had to offer. From the kick-off gala with a runway presentation from veteran Taos Pueblo designer Patricia Michaels to the annual Indigenous Fashion Show—featuring new couture collections from buzzy designers like Jamie Okuma and Jontay Kahm—there was plenty of style to take in. Uniting all of these events? A sense of excellence and cultural innovation that proved Indigenous design is not only well and alive, but thriving.

Below, read on for the highlights from this year’s Santa Fe Indian Market.

Best of Class

Kicking off the 2025 Santa Fe Indian Market on Friday was the annual Best of Classification Awards, where Indigenous artists submit new works displaying their masterful craftsmanship. The competition was held across categories such as beadwork and quillwork, jewelry, pottery, sculpture, textiles, and more. Highlights from this year’s entries included the Best of Show winner (the top award), the Chickasaw artist Regina Free, who created a mixed-media 3-D bison sculpture made of foam, felt, paper towels, plaster, and other materials. Blackfeet Nation artist Jackie Bread won the Best of Beadwork and Quillwork category for their intricate beaded bag, while San Felipe Pueblo artist Janalee Valencia also won the top jewelry award for a striking reversible mosaic inlay necklace.