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Fall 2026
RL/Culture

Rooted in Every Stitch

For designers Jocy and Trae Little Sky, TÓPA’s latest Artist in Residence collaboration invokes their ancestors’ ancient rituals, one bead at a time.
By Shannon Adducci
For as long as she can remember, Jocy Little Sky was surrounded by artists. The town of Bushnell, South Dakota, where she grew up may have been small (less than 100 residents), but it was brimming with creative types: painters, pottery-makers, welders. Her grandfather was a musician, and her grandmother was an artist. So was her mother, who would look at every surface in their house—dressers, tables, kitchen cabinets—as the next canvas for her artwork. She taught Jocy (who is of Dakota, Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara heritage) to hand-make the elaborately beaded outfits that she would wear to Pow Wows throughout the US and abroad.
Across the state, in the southwestern part of South Dakota, Trae Little Sky was also learning the intricacies of Native craftsmanship. His father, an artist also, taught Trae and his siblings his own ways of making Pow Wow ensembles and ceremonial regalia, rooted in the Oglala Lakota and Stoney Nakoda lineages. “It came naturally because it was just always around,” recalls Trae of his childhood lifestyle. The Little Skys’ collective decades of experience in Native design culminated in the launch of their brand, TÓPA, in 2023. The husband-and-wife duo chose the word, which means “four” in their Oceti Sakowin (People of Seven Council Fires) languages, because of the number’s sacred, philosophical meanings in Northern Plains traditions. It represents the four directions; the four stages of life; and the dimensions of being. Their logo, a crossed star, represents the Wičhaŋhpi Oyate, or the “star people,” a fundamental belief in Lakota, Dakota, and adjacent traditions that human spirits originate in the stars before descending to Earth.
After launching their first Artist in Residence collection with Polo last year (a capsule focused on knits and outerwear with sacred geometric motifs knitted or beaded on), the Little Skys looked even further into natural details, focusing on plant species that have for centuries held sacred meanings in Native Nations of the Northern Plains. Sage, cedar, cherry blossoms, and chokecherries adorn handbags, sneakers, suede fringe jackets, Polo shirts, belts, and boots, each motif embroidered with brightly colored beadwork. “The designs are about honoring and paying respect to these Plant Relatives. They have provided us with shelter, medicine, food, and even teachings and values on how to treat nature,” says Trae of the plants, which are native to the region, including the Little Skys’ home in southwestern South Dakota. “These relatives have helped us be who we are but have also carried us through the time.”
PRL x TÓPA Shimmering Sage Jacket
$2,998.00
PRL x TÓPA Earth’s Beauty Polo Play Tote
$998.00
PRL x TÓPA Standing Sage Fringe Jacket
$2,998.00
SHANNON ADDUCCI is a writer and fashion editor based in New York. Her work has appeared in Elle, GQ, Departures, Robb Report, WWD, and T: The New York Times Style Magazine.
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