“My work is centered in the union of contemporary style and traditional designs.”
Carrie Moran McCleary is a fashion designer, artist, and Little Shell Chippewa Tribal member who lives on the Crow Reservation in Montana. In 2016, after years of designing clothes and accessories for her family, she founded Plains Soul to share her unique style and artistry with a wider audience.
“My work is centered in the union of contemporary style and traditional designs,” Moran McCleary said, “I want Native people to wear my work to the office or a powwow, and non-Native people to wear my work and not fear it is appropriative. So please don’t be shy!”
Known for upcycling and Indigenizing everyday items, Moran McCleary learned to bead and sew from her mothers, discovering at a young age how to customize thrift-store finds and hand-me-downs, transforming them into works of art and expressions of her identity.
“I am the tenth of eleven children, so hand-me-downs were a way of life growing up. But my mom and grandmothers were very creative so I never thought anything of it. I’m just doing what my mothers and grandmothers did before me,” Moran McCleary said, “My designs are very Ojibwe, but, after spending 30 years in the Apsáalooke (Crow) community, who I’m honored to call family, I’m often influenced by their colors and aesthetics as well.”
Moran McCleary has participated in Montana Fashion Week, Native Fashion in the City, and Honor Our Legacy Fashion Show. She co-produced and participated in Apsáalooke Community Market’s Native Days, Yellowstone National Park’s Tribal Marketplace, and the Crow Fair 101 fashion shows.
Her work has been exhibited in Apsáalooke Women and Warriors at the Field Museum, Chicago, IL, The Brinton 101 at The Brinton Museum, Big Horn, WY, and When Culture Meets Fashion at the Western Heritage Center, Billings MT. As a member of the B. Yellowtail Collective, her Fierce One Doll Collection can be found at B. Yellowtail.
