About Me
Jontay Kahm is a Plains Cree fashion designer from Saskatchewan, Canada, whose work merges Indigenous cultural expression with contemporary fashion, theatricality, and sculptural form. Kahm earned a BFA in Studio Arts from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 2023, and a Masters degree in Fine Arts in Fashion Design and Society from Parsons School of Design, New York City in 2025. Kahm’s practice is rooted in movement, color, texture, and transformation. Drawing inspiration from nature, ceremonial regalia, and the visual language of spectacle, he creates garments that operate as both fashion and wearable art. His work reimagines elements of Plains Cree identity through an innovative lens, honoring cultural memory while expanding the possibilities of Indigenous design within contemporary fashion. In 2024, Kahm was named Best Emerging Talent in Fashion Design by the Canadian Arts and Fashion Awards in Toronto and was also a finalist for the CFDA Graduate Award. Through dramatic silhouettes, intricate materiality, and otherworldly storytelling, Kahm’s work invites audiences into imaginative realms where identity, history, spirituality, and fantasy are powerfully expressed through the body.
Work Experience
Residencies
2026 Artist-in-Residence, Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe, NM
Exhibitions
2026 "Personified Existence" The Jule Museum, Auburn, AL
2025 "Future Imaginaries: Indigenous Art, Fashion, Technology" Autry Museum, Los Angeles, CA
2025 "New York Fashion Week", Parsons MFA Spring 2026 Ready-to-Wear, New York, NY
2025 "Fashioning Wonder: A Cabinet of Curiosities"Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, NY
2024 "To Take Shape and Meaning" North Carolina Museum of Art.
2022 "Scholars Exhibition" SITE Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM
2021 "In Memory of Jeff Kahm" Balzer Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2018 "Spring Exhibition" Balzer Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2018 "Student Competition" Balzer Gallery, Spring
2017 "Student Show" Balzer Gallery, Fall
Press & Features
2026
-Jontay Kahm, First American Art Magazine, Summer Issue
-River Lily Park, Volume 2, Native Fashion Show, Southwestern Association for Indian Arts, Santa Fe Indian Market, Santa Fe, NM
-In Memoriam, wearing Jontay Kahm, Tia Wood, Canadian Screen Awards
-River Lily Park, Vol. 1, Native Fashion Week, Southwestern Association for Indian Arts, Santa Fe, NM In Santa Fe
-A Native Fashion Showcase Celebrated Handcraft, Vogue
-Beyond Vessels, Native Fashion Show, Southwestern Association for Indian Arts, Santa Fe, NM
-Fashion Show, Fashion Art Toronto, Toronto, ON
Awards
2024
-Best Emerging Talent in Fashion Design, Canadian Arts and Fashion Awards, Toronto, ON
2024
-Lily Gladstone, wears Jontay Kahm, Virtuosos Awards, styled by Jason Rembert, Los Angeles, CA
-Lily Gladstone’s Feathered Look Is By a Rising Indigenous Designer, Vogue
-Ethereal Realms collection, Southwestern Association for Indian Arts, Native Fashion Show, Santa Fe, NM
-A Rush of Rooster Feathers and Trippy Quills, The Next Alexander McQueen, WWD Indigenous Designers Celebrate Heritage and Innovation, Southwestern Association for Indian Arts.
-Native Fashion Show Periodical Style Was Embedded With Culture at the 2024 Santa Fe Indian Market, Vogue
-Ethereal Realms, A fusion of Indigenous tradition and innovation at the SWAIA Fashion Show,
-The New School Free Press, New York, NY,
-Future Imaginaries: Indigenous Art, Fashion, Technology, The Getty Fashion Show, Autry Museum, Los Angeles, CA
2023
-MoCNA Senior Exhibition, Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, Santa Fe, NM
-Senior Exhibition, Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe, NM
-Regalien Bodies Collection, SWAIA Native Fashion Show, Santa Fe, NM
-A Rising Plains Cree Designer, Is Reimagining Indigenous Design, Vogue
-The Powerful Meaning Behind Cara Jade Myers’s SAG Awards Look, Vogue
-Indigenous Fashion Designer Shows in Santa Fe, a Thrilling Debut, WWD
2022
-Call for Art, Balzer Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
-Bee’s Knees, Balzer Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
-EATS NYC Scholarship Event, American Indian College Fund, New York, NY
-Pop-up shop Indian Market, Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, Santa Fe, NM
2019
-Featured, First American Art Magazine, Issue
-Two-page spread in FM/AM, Marist College Fashion Magazine
-Future-Facing Fashion, First American Art Magazine, Norman, OK
2017
-Seven Directions, First American Art Magazine, Norman, OK
2016
-Graduation Fashion Show, Blanche Macdonald Centre, Vancouver, BC