By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
Sitka artist Jennifer Younger is always excited to get calls from stylists interested in using her jewelry as they design a look for Hollywood actors, writers and filmmakers attending awards shows.
But nothing beat the thrill Younger felt Sunday in seeing Indigenous filmmaker Brit Hensel, model Quannah Rose Chasinghorse, and actor Amber Midthunder walking the red carpet and showcasing Jennifer Younger Designs rings, earrings, and bracelet at the Critics’ Choice Awards in Los Angeles.
From left, Indigenous filmmaker Brit Hensel, model Quannah Rose Chasinghorse, and actor Amber Midthunder wear jewelry made by Sitka artist Jennifer Younger. (Photo Provided)
“What happens is usually I wait for the event to happen and see if they picked my jewelry to wear or not,” Younger said.
In this case, it was the celebrities themselves who made the choice to wear items they had purchased from Younger.
“It was all three of them, and that was just, oh my gosh!” Younger said. “The special part was these pieces were selected on their own, and were not choices by stylists.”
Midthunder, who most recently starred in the Hollywood film “Prey,” wore two wild rose wrap rings and dagger earrings. Midthunder and Younger had communicated about the dagger earrings, and Midthunder decided to wear three Younger pieces at Critics’ Choice Awards. She is a member of the Fort Peck Assiniboine tribe.
Hensel, a writer and filmmaker who worked on “Reservation Dogs,” wore devils club dagger earrings, a forget-me-not bracelet and a wrap ring that she purchased from Younger.
Younger said Hansel and her fiance, “Reservation Dogs” creator Sterlin Harjo, are supporters of Younger’s work. Hensel is a citizen of Cherokee Nation.
Chasinghorse wore dentalium statement earrings that Younger had sent to her for a recent photo shoot, and the model decided to wear them to the awards show. Chasinghorse is Alaskan, of the Hän Hwëch’in of Eagle Village on her mother’s side, and Sicangu-Oglala Lakota of the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota on her father’s side.
Younger, who is Tlingit, was born in Seward and raised in Yakutat, and has lived in Sitka for the last 25 years. She has been featured at fashion shows in the U.S. and the United Kingdom, and shows her work internationally.
She appreciates any enjoyment people get from her pieces, and is pleased that her work has been discovered by celebrities and viewed by hundreds of thousands on worldwide TV.
“It just makes me want to keep on going like I’ve been doing,” Younger said. “I started this kind of jewelry and metalwork endeavor about 10 years ago, and I still love every minute on it. I still feel like I’m obsessed because I have so much freedom to create. So I just feel like I want to keep going and seeing what else I can do.”
She added that there was a bit of a surreal quality as she received Instagram photos of her work being worn by the celebrities.
“Yeah, something cool like this happens, you’re on the red carpet and it’s super exciting,” she said. “But in reality I’m in my shop and my sweats with dirty hands. But it’s still exciting.”
In April, Younger will exhibit her jewelry at a show in Los Angeles at the invitation of publicist and TV personality Kelly Cutrone.
The Critics’ Choice Awards is a glamorous event that takes place every year and is one of the lead-ups to the Oscar season. Awards are given for acting, writing, music, design and directing for film and TV. This year the live broadcast of the awards on the CW network drew just under 1 million viewers.
