Slang Word for Native American Womens Buckskin Dress
Native American languages 
Native American Indian Clothing and Regalia
Originally, there were many different traditional Native American clothing styles in North America. Nearly every tribe had its own distinctive style of dress, and the people could often tell each other's identities by looking at their tribal clothes, headdresses, and ornamentation.Sponsored Links
In most tribes, Native American men wore breechclouts or breechcloths (a long rectangular piece of hide or cloth tucked over a belt, so that the flaps fell down in front and behind), sometimes with leather leggings attached in colder climates. Here's a page of breechcloth and legging pictures. In some tribes Indian clothing for men was a short kilt or fur trousers instead of a breechcloth. Most American Indian men did not use shirts, but Plains Indian warriors did wear special buckskin war shirts decorated with ermine tails, hair, and intricate quillwork and beadwork. Here are pictures of two traditional Sioux war shirts. Native American clothing for women usually consisted of skirts and leggings, though the length, design, and material of the skirts varied from tribe to tribe. In some cultures, Indian women's shirts were optional and were treated more like coats. In others, Native American women always wore tunics or mantles in public. And in some tribes women usually wore one-piece American Indian dresses instead, like this Cheyenne buckskin dress. Nearly all Native Americans had some form of moccasin (a sturdy leather shoe) or mukluk (heavier boot), with the styles of footwear differing from tribe to tribe (as you can see from these mocasin pictures). Most tribes used cloaks in colder weather, but some of the northern tribes wore Inuit-style fur parkas instead. Most variable of all were headgear and formal clothing, which were different in nearly every tribe. Here's a page illustrating traditional hairstyles from several different tribes.
After colonization, the clothes of Native Americans began to change. For one thing, as Indian tribes were driven from their ancient lands and forced into closer contact with each other, they began to borrow some of each other's tribal dress, so that fringed buckskin clothing, feather headdresses, and woven blankets became popular among Indians outside of the tribes in which they originated. For another, Indians began to adapt some articles of European costume to their own style, decorating cloth garments with characteristic Native American beadwork, embroidery, and designs. These clothes were not original to the Americas, but by the 1800's they were recognized by anyone viewing them as American Indian apparel. Such post-colonial native dress includes beaded jackets and shirts, ribbon shirts, Seminole patchwork skirts, satin shawls, woolen sweaters, broad ribbon applique, jingle dresses, and the Cherokee tear dress. Today, most Native Americans wear contemporary American and Canadian clothes in their daily life; however, unique American Indian clothing styles still exist. Some traditional American Indian garments, such as buckskins, ribbon dresses, and beaded moccasins, are still worn in many tribes, particularly to formal events. Others, such as breech
Thank you for your interest in Native American clothing!
Native American Clothing Stores
On our main site we do our best to avoid slowing down our page loading with graphics, but this page is about art, so we'd really be remiss in not showing a few representative Native American clothing pictures. All photos are the property of their respective artists; please visit their clothing websites to see their artwork in more depth.Sponsored Links
Native American Regalia and Traditional Clothing
Since all of these traditional Native American clothes are handmade and many are custom-made, they don't usually have a large inventory of identical items. So if you love an artist's work but they don't seem to have the right size, color, or style currently for sale, I recommend you contact them with your ideas. Many of these artists will make native clothes to your specifications, and others have a much larger selection of clothing in their store than they have featured for sale on their website. Native American Moccasins
 | The most universal element of Native American dress, moccasins were worn throughout North America and into Central America, and remain popular footwear among many Indian tribes today. Visit our Native American Moccasins page to buy some from contemporary Indian artists. |
Native American Mittens and Gloves
Cowichan Sweaters
Among the Northwest Coast Indians there is a long tradition of weaving wool clothing by hand (originally using mountain goat hair, later sheep's wool). About a century ago Salish Indian weavers turned this skill towards sweater-making, and their distinctive designs have become a native Canadian classic. Contemporary Native American Clothes
Sometimes, all you're looking for is a Native American t-shirt. Here are some of our favorites. Native American Designer Clothes
These Native American fashion labels are expensive to buy, but all three are Indian-owned, and if you can afford them, the clothes are beautiful enough to be worth their price. Native American Blankets
 | Woven blankets were used as cloaks in the Southwest and dance regalia in the Pacific Northwest; later, colorful wool blankets introduced by Europeans became popular as outerwear in many tribes. Today, blankets are not usually used as articles of clothing, so we have put our pictures and information about Native American blankets on the page with Indian rugs and other weavings. Look for it there! |
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Books About Native American Clothing
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Encyclopedia of American Indian Costume: A good book about native clothing styles and regalia in different Indian tribes.
Traditional Clothing of the Native Americans: Book describing how to make buckskin clothes and other traditional Indian clothing.
Beauty, Honor, and Tradition: The Legacy of Plains Indian Shirts: Cultural background and color photographs of traditional Plains Indian clothing.
Identity by Design: Tradition, Change, and Celebration in Native Women's Dresses: Coffee table book featuring American Indian dresses and dance regalia from many tribes.
Native American Clothing: An Illustrated History: Photography book about Indian clothing from the past till the present day.
Dress Clothing of the Plains Indians: Another artistic book about Great Plains Native American clothing.
How to Make Cherokee Clothing: Descriptions and sewing patterns for traditional Cherokee Indian dress and accessories.
Uncommon Threads: Wabanaki Textiles, Clothing, and Costume: Good book on Eastern Woodland Native American clothing, with many photographs.
Sinews of Survival: The Living Legacy of Inuit Clothing: Here's a good book about traditional Inuit (Eskimo) clothes, with illustrations.
Indian Clothing Before Cortes: Mesoamerican Costumes: Detailed book about the Indian clothing of Mexico.
Indian Clothing And Regalia Information and Links
Here are some other good internet resources for learning about or purchasing Native American clothing: 
red Native American languages. We are not artists ourselves, so if you are interested in buying some of the Native American Indian clothes featured on this page, please contact the artists directly. Though we have featured only Native Indian clothing and regalia identified with the name and tribal affiliation of each artist, we haven't called the tribal offices to check up on any of them, and we only know a few of them personally. This is not an exhaustive list of American Indian clothing--if you would like us to add your native clothing site to this page, please contact us with your URL and tribal affiliation. We advertise any individual native artist or native-owned art business here free of charge. We do not link to clothing or regalia which is not made by tribally recognized American Indian, Inuit, or First Nations artists. And finally, websites do expire and change hands, so use your common sense and this general rule of thumb: if the creator of each individual outfit is not identified by name and specific tribe, you are probably not looking at authentic American Indian clothes. bradfordhatessuce.blogspot.com
Source: http://www.native-languages.org/clothing.htm