Tribal Member Participates in Sycuan Fashion Show

Comanche Nation tribal member Tytiana Coleman walked in the Sycuan Fashion Show on Thursday, Sept. 5, at the Sycuan Casino in El Cajon, California.

She walked for Michelle Luna and said it was a lot of fun, but Coleman valued the outfit she modeled.

“What I'm wearing kind of inspired me as she made it,” she said. “Within this, there's a perfect heart, but she explained to me that it's with love, and with all the love, you get different types of love, different types of obstacles within that love. So, it really inspired me because she said that with the ribbons, this is what her grandma taught her to love with and understand love. So, that really inspired me because the same thing with my grandmother.”

Coleman’s grandmother was her everything.

“So, when she told this story about love, that was kind of what put me into wanting to wear this because, ‘Okay, my grandma taught me love also,’” she said. “And that's what, that's who I had on the, on the runway with me as I was wearing this.”

Coleman has been in about 10 shows in the last year and a half, and she said this was the largest show she’s done.

“A lot of them have been smaller, kind of chaotic, but this one has, this is the biggest show I've been into,” she said. “Very organized, went down real smooth. So yeah.”

Coleman said her first show was in college.

“For a long time, I wasn't interested in fashion, but my first show was actually at my college,” she said. “They had a MMIW honoring fashion show, and they wanted the college students. So, I entered, and then from there, I had designers that wanted me to model for them. So that kind of boosted it.”

According to Coleman, going so far for a show took a lot of planning.

“It was like close to a last minute thing, but with the help of my parents, I mean, they're the ones that helped my dreams come true. So, my mom came with me, and she helped me; anxiety, stress to get here,” she said.

Coleman said her favorite part of the show was meeting the designers.

“And just hearing the stories behind a lot of their, their work, meeting different models from different areas. A lot of them come from 20 hours away, drove, luckily, I flew,” she said. “But that was the best part, just interacting with everybody and learning everybody's story and how they got into modeling.”

Coleman said part of her job is to have great energy and flexibility for designers.

“When I come into this, I'm open, I'm open-minded,” she said. “A lot of designers always want us to feel comfortable, but I'm somebody, that’s how I tell my designers all the time, ‘It's what you want me to wear and what you think looks good on me. I don't care if I'm uncomfortable. It's your design. It's how you want it to be represented.’ So that's really, I don't know, it's just my energy I bring when I come to shows.”

Coleman said she was glad to represent the Comanche Nation Tribe at the event.