Edgar Villanueva is a model – literally – for the principles of reparative finance.
On a Soho rooftop at New York Fashion Week, the activist and author of Decolonizing Wealth sported a suit made of vegan cactus leather from Mexican retailer Sarelly Sarelly, along with a beaded pendant by Navajo designer Sean Snyder.
The fourth annual Celebrating Indigeneity in Fashion event, hosted by Villanueva and his nonprofit, the Decolonizing Wealth Project, celebrated Indigenous fashion designers including Jontay Kahm, Korina Emmerich, Kayla Lookinghorse, and Hud Oberly, and championed climate sustainability. “I see this as a narrative change opportunity,” Villanueva told ImpactAlpha, “but also a wealth building opportunity for Natives in this industry.”
The runway is a creative, visual and tangible way to communicate the decolonizing wealth ethos, which centers historical racial harm to remake finance and philanthropy as a reparative tool. Fashion “is an industry where there’s a lot of concentrated power, privilege and wealth, and an industry that’s been known to be extractive for my community,” says Villanueva, a member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina.
He founded the Decolonizing Wealth Project in 2018 as a model for wealth redistribution and to facilitate the no-strings-attached philanthropy his book calls for. A series of participatory grantmaking funds, supported by a network of donors, cede decisions to Indigenous and Black-led grantees.
“I started from a place of pain,” Villanueva told The New York Times. “I felt like I had to push through to a place where I’m offering a different way of thinking.”
In Soho, Villanueva’s black jacket and shorts were a sartorial representation of one of the project’s key themes: climate justice. “This little leather outfit is completely sustainable,” he said. The animal-free leather, made from Mexican-native Nopal cactus, offers a sustainable alternative to traditional leather: the plant requires minimal water and the hide can be made with non-toxic processes and materials.
Indigenous peoples steward 80% of the planet’s biodiversity and have served as “custodians and guardians of the land for generations,” according to Liberated Capital, the funding arm of Decolonizing Wealth Project.
“It’s really intersectional for us,” Villanueva said, looking out over the sea of partygoers and the New York skyline. “I feel like there’s a heightened awareness. It’s a really exciting time.”
