Hevewah models at Los Angeles Fashion Week show
Sho-Ban tribal member LaShayne Hevewah models in LAFW show on October 12.
By BREE BAKER
Sho-Ban News
FORT HALL — LaShayne Hevewah, Shoshone-Bannock tribal member, modeled at Los Angeles Fashion Week (LAFW) on October 12, at Skylight ROW in Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA). Hevewah has done acting and stand-in roles for commercials, television shows, and movies. Hevewah is twenty-three years old, he’s the son of Valerie Bagley and Robert Lucas Hevewah and is employed at the Shoshone-Bannock Casino and Hotel as a drop team member. He is signed with the agency Urban Talent Management based in Utah.
The opportunity to model in Los Angeles for Fashion Week fell into Hevewah’s lap by chance. While scrolling on Instagram he saw a post for a chance to model during Los Angeles Fashion Week Festival (LAFWF) he thought “this is probably fake” but decided to apply regardless. After doing research and asking around he discovered it was a real event, looking for real models, and he was going to be a part of the show. Hevewah had to sell eight tickets for the event to cover his entry fees. On October 8, Hevewah, his mother Valerie, sister Alexa, and best friend Daniel drove from Fort Hall to Los Angeles to attend the event.
On Saturday morning, Hevewah modeled at Skylight ROW in DTLA on the rooftop where the views of the city can be seen in the background. He shares most models only worked with one designer, but he had the opportunity to model for two different designers, LaTonya from Crystal Custom Wear and Max from Sacred Imagination. Hevewah was the only Native American model at the event, but there were two Native American designers. Hevewah met them after he walked the runway. He said they were disappointed to find out a Native model was there and wasn’t able to model for their brands. He’s open to modeling for all different brands, he’d love to model for Nike and would be interested in modeling for Indigenous fashion brands. He likes to see everyone’s creations and how they are all different.
When he modeled in Fort Hall he wore a ribbon shirt, moccasins, and a beaded hat, in LA he wore a Leatherman jacket and then a jacket made of different childhood blankets with plush baby toys. All outfits are different but created from a single thought and then brought to life by the hands of the artists.
While in Southern California, Hevewah rolled up his pants and went in the ocean and played in the sand for the first time. He says he wasn’t sure if he liked it, noting the weird feeling of sand between his toes. The family had the chance to ride the rollercoaster at the Santa Monica Pier, go to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, visit Beverly Hills, go to Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights, and try David Dobrik’s pizza shop, the best food he says he ate while in LA.
On their way home they stopped in Las Vegas and explored the city. For Hevewah traveling is the fun part, he shares his favorite city his work has taken him is Atlanta for Echo and Tulsa King.
LaShayne Hevewah with actor Sylvester Stallone on the set of the film Tulsa King.
Hevewah has had different background and stand-in roles in television series and movie productions, including Echo, Horizon Chapter 1, Outer Range, Tall Tales of Jim Bridger, Opus, and Tulsa King. He has played characters who are Apache, Cherokee, Choctaw, Navajo, and Shoshone. He did not know about the tribes, so learning about the culture and beliefs from individuals from those nations is something he enjoys and finds interesting. When asked how it feels to represent his tribe and where he comes from Hevewah says “It feels new, I don’t know how to interpret it yet” because growing up on the reservation your whole life everyone is like you. Then you go into spaces where you are the first Native American someone has met, it’s different. Growing up Hevewah was no stranger to being alone, sharing how he’s used to being the only Native American in band, choir, and theater. But he finds comfort in seeing other Native Americans in the industry because “it’s easy to talk to them and you just click,” noting how the humor is always the same.
He’s worked with actors such as Sylvester Stallone, Kevin Costner, Graham Greene, Ayo Edebiri, Tatanka Means, and Young Mazino—who Hevewah says is his favorite actor he’s worked with. Mazino took the time to get to know him and give him helpful advice for working in the film industry. The two met while Hevewah had a stand-in role for the upcoming A24 film Opus. One of his favorite memories working on this film was getting to know the actors, sitting with Ayo Edebiri and Young Mazino at the lunch table and joking around with them, like old friends.
Acting goals of Hevewah include getting the chance to work with directors Anthony and Joseph Russo, actress Isabela Merced, and his favorite actor Ryan Gosling. He says he’d love to work with Netflix for a project. He’s been working on a script and hopes to write and star in his own movie one day, either a “sad rom-com” or a Native American horror movie. Hevewah shares he auditioned and has been cast in an upcoming movie, still in early production. A small challenge for him is memorizing all his lines, the script is several pages long. He practices at home with the help of his sister Alexa, who runs lines with him.
In his last interview, he mentioned he wanted to learn how to ride horseback. Hevewah reached out to fellow Shoshone-Bannock tribal member Trevin Fox, who taught him the basics of horses and how to ride horseback. Since then, a few projects have been released, when Horizon came out, his mom rented out a theater. He says it was very exciting to watch the movie with his family, especially his grandma Susan. Hevewah says it’s cool to see himself on screen but likes to see how everything comes together, remembering how different things look in the background and from his point of view.
Hevewah’s message he would like to share with the youth is to “Be yourself and don’t let anyone put you down.” He says trying new things is important, because you don’t know what the outcome will be, but at least you tried. Showing that “we still exist, and we are still out here” says Hevewah when asked why Indigenous representation is important in mainstream media.
