Designer Cali Roberta - Cherokee Punk Princess
Fashion Outside the Mainstream
Cherokee is self explanatory- a Native American tribe originating in what is now North Carolina. After being relocated to Oklahoma during the Trail of Tears, lots of us were left with remnants of Cherokee tribal inclinations.
Punk, well, for fun, I looked up the Wiki definition. “…a fierce individualist who has a bone to pick with the profit-driven world... Punk is a mindset and you don't have to dress or look like anything or conform to a name. You're a poseur if you try too hard to look and act like a punk. You can be blue collar and be punk. Purchasing the hair products, the clothes, and the music; that's buying into society, which is exactly what punk is against. So know who you are, know the reason for the culture, and understand the meaning behind the word. If you have to ask how, you're not.” Cali Roberta is punk all the way.
Cherokee Punk defines Cali Roberta’s new direction with her self-titled line. In fact, it describes Ms. Roberta completely. If asked, you will hear her say, “Leather is where my soul belongs!” She is an eco artist in virtually every sense of the word, although not of the vegetarian and vegan clothing-wearing, hippie variety. Everything she makes is naturally occurring and can decompose and return to the earth. She has been known to scrape and tan a buffalo or deer hide, pick a dead muskrat off the road and make a purse out of him, or to cut through the leftover bones of a wild turkey and make some wicked jewelry. If that ain’t Cherokee Punk, I don’t know what is. Roberta has been making moccasins with horsehair adornment for a while now. In more recent months, she added gender neutral leather cuffs with horn embellishments, leather garters (hot!), leather lattice sleeve accessories, and baby mocs.
Photograph by Gabriel Garner.
Fashion Notes: Bull horn and oiled leather cuff ($70 available at Wearhaus). Deer leg bone, turquoise, and sterling silver earrings ($50 available at Bon Bon Altelier). Bull horn and tooled leather arm band ($70). Deer antler ring ($85).
Photograph by Phil Peterson.
Roberta stands out in a crowd. She lives in a home over 100 years old with her two children outside of town and close to nature. She home schools her children and definitely lives a life outside of mainstream America, and proudly so. Nothing about her presence fits any sort of mold, except the Cherokee Punk kind. When framed in that light, everything about Cali makes sense. She comes to the city to fill up her cup with creative energy while spreading her own brand of love and energy wherever she goes. Some people don’t know how to deal with her exuberance, and to them I say, more Cali for me! I loved her unique energy from the moment I met her one recent First Friday on a full moon.
She’s ready to rock on some orders, too. With the help of veteran shooter, Phil Peterson, she’s putting together her look book to send to prospective vendors from coast to coast. Roberta also has a plan for when those orders come rolling in – and they will – this stuff is hot. A single mother and survivor in every sense of the word, she intends to empower men and women through Rose Brooks and similar organizations with the freedom to work in a healthy, supportive environment. Roberta would even like for the women she employs to have the freedom to bring their children and breastfeed their babies at work.
Armed with her new look book, and a grand master plan, Roberta is ready to collect orders and get some investors involved. The Cali Roberta show is ready to hit the road, Cherokee Punk style. Check out her cuffs and darling baby moccasins in Skyline Salon’s holiday collection showing First Friday, November 6 (read more: "Skyline Rocks"), 2009 through the holidays. Her killer moccasins for men and women are for sale by custom order exclusively through Spool on West 18th Street. Also, on November 20th, mixed martial arts fighter Gary Tapusoa will sport Roberta’s designs in his match for the Strikeforce challenger series.
Cali Roberta
Email: caliroberta@yahoo.com
Phone: 816.810.8508
www.myspace.com/caliroberta
Christel Highland
Christel Highland is the owner and designer of Pistol Threads—a niche business which provides killer custom duds for musicians and folks who are into undiluted rockin' fashion. Christel is the Fashion and Fiber Arts Curator for Art Bidz; costume designer for stage and film; fashion stylist for still shoots; and writer for stage, small screen, big screen, KC Magazine, and PresentMagazine.com.
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