So when the brand faced immediate and vitriolic blowback online for cultural appropriation, Rayamajhi was surprised. She makes pieces directly inspired by her life as a Nepali migrant who left Kathmandu to come to New York City, with materials sourced from her homeland and her immediate environment. The theme of the show was migration, after all.

Rayamajhi has never been in the business of mass-producing her pieces for profit. She is deeply interested in what becomes of the art object once it leaves her studio and enters the world. As a formally trained visual artist who has found success in the fashion industry, she sees the contradictions inherent in purchasing a commodity—a necklace or a T-shirt—as a way of making a coherent political statement.

Appropriation is arguably the lifeblood of fashion: borrowing and reimagining ideas move the medium forward, inspiring designers to push into new terrain. But questions of power remain. In August, designer Willy Chavarria launched a footwear collaboration with Adidas reimagining the huarache sandal. “It's, like, literally one of the most classic Chicano references with the white sock," Chavarria said at a panel held at the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico where the shoe was first unveiled.

Both he and the brand were immediately threatened with legal action by the country of Mexico, where the huarache is a protected cultural commodity, meaning the manufacturing process cannot be divorced from the Oaxacan community. The making of the object is what defines it. Chavarria’s Adidas collaboration was manufactured in China. Both he and Adidas have issued formal apologies.

It stands to reason that, in this context, Rayamajhi’s skepticism is justified. As an artist, she is unwilling to stay silent about the cruelties of the world around her but humble enough to understand that, whatever she wants to say, it probably can’t be said from the runway. And so, after a nearly four year hiatus, the 37-year-old has turned to an entirely different medium: sound. Rayamajhi was forced to take a break from work after a prolonged illness made on-camera appearances impossible, preventing her from pursuing modeling and prompting her to slow down and turn inward.

Making music came naturally once Rayamajhi accepted that the pace at which she’d been making jewelry was unsustainable. Instead, she set out on a journey to explore what it would mean to move at a different speed.
She is set to release her debut album, About Time, alongside an accompanying jewelry line—“A for Arpana”—on October 24. Her music lands somewhere between Cleo Sol and Sufjan Stevens, a deceptively sweet sounding, melancholic lyricism. We spoke over Zoom recently to discuss her new project and how making music at this moment in time has pushed her to grow both as a person and an artist.

Design

2025

THE BEAUTY OF BAD TASTE

Arpana Rayamajhi Tries a Different Speed