Clothing

Charles W Hogan Collection, Gift of Miriam S. Hogan Revocable Trust

This style of Apache two-piece dress is now made almost exclusively for ceremonial occasions. A major ritual among the Western Apache is the Girl’s puberty or Sunrise Dance ceremony, which symbolically invests young women with physical and mental attributes needed to transform successfully into adulthood. Among the Chiricahua Apache such dresses are referred to as “debut” dresses, marking a girl’s entry into womanhood. The young woman would be as beautifully dressed as the parents could afford for their daughter. Such dresses comprised two pieces – a cape and skirt and were decorated with large areas of native paints, narrow lines of beadwork and rows of tiny metal cones attached for their musical effect.

Ruby McArthur is Cree and Nakoda and comes from Carlyle, Saskatchewan, Canada. Starting at a young age, Ruby was known for her pictorial styles of beadwork and her colorful visual styles which are often utilized by competitive powwow dancers. In early 2000 this dress was a part of an educational learning tool for the University of Saskatchewan. The grant funding allowed Ruby to purchase the beads and materials while documenting the beadwork process.

Following this, the dress was given to Tahnee Growingthunder who added to it and used it in competitive dances across the United States and Canada. The belt has been the latest addition, a gift from JoJo Shield, a Crow saddle maker who gifted the matching belt to Tahnee. He used a painted motif of western tooled style and a beaded edge to match Ruby’s design along the edge of the dress.

On the top, one can see the scissortails and flowers significant to Ruby as a Cree artist and important to Tahnee, who comes from the tribes from the eastern woodlands. The white background, and color variation are from size 11 Czechoslovakian beads. A dress made for competitors, the leggings and moccasins are beaded on waterproof materials to protect the dancer from outdoor elements and maintain dryness. The accessories include dentalium, horsehair, and various pieces of beaded works for earrings, chokers, and belt drops. The skirt is made from ultra-suede and has a cover apron from shoestring fringe and handtied lace for embellishment.

Purchase courtesy Mrs. Carol Dickinson in honor of Martin Dickinson

Lakota dresses were traditionally made of two deer or elk skins with the hind section folded over to form the yoke or upper part of the dress. By the late 1800s, larger skins were few, and women often utilized a third hide to form the yoke portion of the dress. This was done by cutting out the end of the sleeves in a way that emulated the leg shape. These large, magnificently beaded dresses were a product of the reservation period when women’s roles and responsibilities began to change from daily subsistence to more sedentary activities. Such dresses were worn for special occasions; use often limited by the sheer weight of up to 15 pounds. The U-shaped motif at the center bottom of the yoke represents a turtle, which for the Lakota is connected to reproduction and protection for children.

Joe Grandee Collection

Similar to a loincloth in function, the breechcloth, also referred to as an apron, is a traditional article of men’s clothing and used by nearly all tribes. The abstract curvilinear beadwork pattern is characteristic of Woodlands, Midwestern, and Prairie tribes such as the Potawatomi, Sauk & Fox, Oto, Missouri, Delaware, Ponca, and others. These influenced Southern Plains designs as they were relocated on Western reservations.

This style of dress is referred to as binary because its two symmetrical halves – front and back – are virtually indistinguishable in design and shape. This particular dress also reflects the influence of commercially made dresses with tailored sleeves and waistline. The dress is decorated with the upper canine teeth of elk and bone fashioned as teeth. “Elk Tooth” dresses were worn by Crow, Kiowa, Cheyenne, and Sioux (Teton Dakota) women and children. The dress would carry a high degree of prestige because of the importance of elk. Only the two upper canine teeth were used, implying that the husband or father was a good hunter or of a certain status within the tribe. In 1852, it was reported that I00 elk teeth would cost as much as a good horse. In addition to blue wool stroud cloth, Crow women also wore elk tooth dresses made from red stroud or tanned buckskins.

Gift of John Wayne

The Pueblo people developed a special form of embroidery during the fifteenth century. The design elements are basic for male dancers in religious ceremonies focusing on agriculture, including rain depicted by the red vertical bars and clouds which are represented by stepped triangles. The kilt is worn as part of an outfit that includes a deer horn headdress, a rain sash, dance sticks, a long stick, and a rattle. The Deer Dance, like other Pueblo animal dances, occurs during harvest time and hunting and weather conditions are paramount. This kilt was collected by the late actor, John Wayne, probably during filming of one of his many westerns shot on location in the Southwest.