"What I like to do is develop a concept that is both functional and classic, weaving in traditional beauty as well," said La Russo.

"The beauty of being a designer," La Russo said, "is spending some time with a client, picking up on the energy they have, and translating that into what the design will be - a true custom piece to match their personality.   I first like to visualize a piece on the client."   Her clothing designs are worn by women across the country.

La Russo learned to sew at a very young age, from her mother who made her own clothing.

"I remember making a pattern piece at about six years old - a blouse," she said.   And I remember being very disappointed with it.   It was a striped material and the stripes didn't match."   She wouldn't sew again until college.

"Very young, living in a hogan, herding sheep, I already knew what I wanted to do.   The concept of designing clothing was so interesting to me, and of course I wanted to be well known for my work," she said.

The path to becoming a sought-after designer was not easy for La Russo.   A dyslexic with attention deficit disorder as well, she described having to read her school textbooks three times over to understand the material.   "It's somehow related to having an artistic mind," she said.

After high school, she persevered and received an A.A. degree in marketing from Phoenix College, attended the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles, then went on to receive a Bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Nevada at Las Vegas.

After her years of schooling, La Russo decided she wanted to be closer to home and opened a shop called Deerwater Designs in downtown Flagstaff, Arizona in 1992.

"After gathering all of my basic knowledge, I knew I was skilled and talented, but there comes a point where you actually have to make the leap and do it," said La Russo.   "The worst thing would have been not to try, and then not know what might have been."

She enjoyed ten successful years in the Flagstaff shop location, creating her own designs and building a large customer following.   "At one point I was doing several hundred pieces per year," said La Russo.

Turned Political Activist
As a business owner, La Russo first served on the Board of Directors of the Flagstaff Chamber of Commerce in the mid-90s, and says she was bitten by the political bug.   She was also a founding board member of the Coconino County, Arizona, Inter-Tribal Advisory Council.    She ran unsuccessfully for Arizona State representative in 2002, the same year she closed her Flagstaff shop and moved to Las Vegas.

Living now in Phoenix, these days La Russo lives a double life.   When the political bug bit, it bit hard, and she became more and more involved.   Besides designing, she is now also the Tribal Outreach Field Organizing Director for the Democratic National Committee and the Arizona Democratic Party.   That's the fancy title for being the liaison between the Democratic Party and all 22 Indian tribes in Arizona.   She spends many hours on the roads and in meetings.

"As far as politics, somehow you find yourself entrenched.   I don't know how I got this entrenched," she said.   "I'm very politically active because I want to be.   I have a vision that I am trying to fulfill for native people.   I want our people to be much more politically active in order to preserve what is most important to us and to provide a better future for the next generation.   I'm trying to educate people on a local level to understand that the way lawmakers vote affects their lives, and to be aware of the issues."

The list of issues La Russo is passionate about is long, including the Navajo-Hopi land dispute, methamphetamines in Indian Country, various environmental issues, water issues and issues related to the closing of the Black Mesa Mine, such as employment on the Navajo Reservation.   She's also concerned about the Federal deficit and its trickle-down effects, the issues surrounding government surveillance, and the dispute over snowmaking from reclaim-ed water for the ski resort on the San Francisco Peaks (near Flagstaff), along with the related acknowledgement of tribes and their sacred sites and religion.

Business and the coming season
As far as marketing her fashions, La Russo now goes to just two shows per year - the Heard Museum Show in Phoenix and the Indian Art Show at the Eldorado Hotel in Santa Fe.   Dur-ing the Flagstaff years there was walk-in traffic, but aside from the shows, the rest of her business now is from loyal past customers and word-of-mouth.   She is presently developing her first website.

Working from her home in Phoenix, she has cut back quite a bit on the number of pieces she creates a year.

La Russo says, "The Valley [Phoenix] is such a huge market - a large population plus all the tourists - it's just a major market in the Southwest."   She also has a following of clients from across the country that love her work, appreciate the culture, and wish to be informed when new designs become available. Her designs range from $100. to $2000.

She works alone on all of her pieces.   She has sought out sewing talent from time to time but says she finds it difficult to turn the work over to someone else, knowing how she wants things to be sewn.   La Russo also manages all of her own business affairs as well.

To anyone who thinks they want to be in fashion and design, La Russo says, "You of course must be artistic, talented and skilled, but there's a whole other side to the business -- the business!"

She continued, "There's also an art to being in business.   You must know the basics of the business side - marketing, bookkeeping, taxes, understanding what type of business you want to be - sole proprietorship, LLC, S-Corp., etc., or find help from someone who does."

La Russo attributes her success to the fact that she had a goal, very early on, and then set out to find a way to do it.   "It's just like how I design a new piece," she said, "I visualize it, then figure out how to make it a reality."

Other Native American designers who La Russo respects include Margaret Wood (Phoenix), Virginia Ballenger (Gallup), and Patricia Michaels (Taos).

Lately La Russo has come up with a concept that no one else is doing: in-corporating a Pendleton blanket from shoulders to waist, along with a traditional velvet skirt.   "I like to mix fabrics.   I think it gives my designs their personality," she said.   She works in wool, cotton, silk, leather, and even fabrics that are difficult to work with.

"You have to kind of become one with the fabric and develop a feel for how to work with it, she said.

La Russo thinks only in terms of classic pieces.   "I try to stay away from things that might only be worn once.   It's important to me that when someone buys a piece they are able to wear it years down the road - 10 years down the road.   It has to be very well made so someone can wear it many times over" La Russo said.

La Russo says her designs always vary.   Right now she is gathering her thoughts on a concept for fall and winter pieces.   "Those are my favorites; fall and winter," she said.   "I'm just much more creative when geared toward these seasons - the colors and the elements."

"The pieces I'm wanting to produce now are more conceptual and individualistic, in very limited editions, said La Russo.   "Pieces that speak to, or are that person."

For more information, La Russo can be reached at:   alarusso@msn.com

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A loyal reader, Arista La Russo writes her first fashion column for REZ BIZ Magazine in this issue.