What we wear says a lot about us; although trendy and cutting edge, those ubiquitous logos and symbols are hardly new ideas. Well before the advent of the galloping polo pony and other cherished emblems propagated throughout the Twentieth Century, symbolism in clothing helped enunciate one’s beliefs and allegiances. The symbols used by the Native American spoke of honor; they memorialized and commemorated.
“Identity By Design: Tradition, Change and Celebration in Native Women’s Dresses,” on view at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, takes a look at those roles. Comprising some 55 historic and contemporary native women’s dresses and more than 200 accessories, the exhibit illuminates their cultural origins, artistry and place in contemporary life.
Most of the dresses were made for important ceremonies or rites of passage; each conveys much about the maker and even more about the wearer. Tribal and family traditions passed from generation to generation are perpetuated with each dress. Contemporary dresses are on view and displayed alongside Nineteenth Century examples to illustrate the existence of the closely held traditions.
The process of creation is a laborious one. First, there is the hunt, which entails meaningful ceremony itself. Male family hunters offer prayers of thanks for the animal, its life, its spirit and all that it will provide. They then hunt the animal, kill it and dress it. Assiniboine/Sioux men still offer a prayer and tobacco, which helps send the message of the promise to use the animal wisely.
It is the task of the women to prepare the hide by removing the hair and tanning it, by the process of “brain tanning” whereby the cooked brains of the animal are applied to the hide to soften it. The hide is then stretched and cured before it is used. Early Native American dresses, like all other early garments, were usually made from hide and designed to clothe the body.
Early decoration was applied using earth paints, usually consisting of minerals and clay. Porcupine quills, animal teeth and shells acquired by trade with other tribes were also employed. Decorative elements were applied to depict the hunt or a battle, extolling the bravery and honor of the warrior, and honoring the animal sacrificed to provide the garment and other by-products.
As trade with other tribes and nonnatives developed in the early part of the Nineteenth Century, native women were able to expand their design repertoire with newly introduced materials, such as beads and silk ribbons, cowrie shells and, most important, wool cloth.
Then specific colors, patterns and techniques were used to denote tribal membership. The new variety of beads and the range of colors contributed to the emergence of beadwork styles and designs characteristic of a particular community. Beadwork designs were patterned after those used when only porcupine quills were available. A woman’s ability to obtain and make use of trade materials in her work was a measure of her social importance and that of her family.
“Identity By Design” had its genesis in the troves of the National Museum of the Indian’s spectacular collection of Native American women’s dresses and was prompted by a renewed interest in the work and artistry of the tribal woman. The exhibit illustrates how native dresses evolved as new materials were introduced. It is remarkable that such a collection has been gathered because so few such garments have survived; most owners were buried wearing them.
The dresses on view are of three types. The side-fold dress is made from one or two hides, with one seam only and a fold that forms a flap from the neck to the waist. It was particularly prevalent in the Great Plains in the early Nineteenth Century. The Sioux side-fold dress on view, circa 1830, is from the museum’s collection and is one of only 11 known examples in museum collections.
Two-hide dresses prevailed in the Plateau societies. They were made by sewing two matching hides together with the animal’s tail as the central design below the neck on the front and back of the dress. Tails were left intact and incorporated into the design of the dress as a note of respect for the sacrifice of the animal. Most women of the Plains and Plateau tribes preferred the two-hide dress because its full skirt enabled them to ride horseback easily.
On a Yakama two-hide dress with beaded fringe on view, colorful beadwork suggests the tails. The dress is stunning, with vibrantly colored bands and geometric patterned beading.
After 1870, the yokes of two-hide dresses were covered completely in beadwork. A Sioux example, circa 1865, is made of three hides but in the two-hide fashion to provide a larger yoke.
A circa 1880 Shoshone two-hide pattern dress with a fully beaded yoke is captivating with its beaded Shoshone belt, moccasins and leggings displayed alongside. Shoshones often incorporated designs from other tribes into their own. The fully beaded yoke is an example of such borrowing; it is common to Sioux dresses. The beadwork of the dress and the accessories were made with seed beads, the small glass beads made in Italy and introduced by nonnative traders about 1850. Seed beads allowed for more elaborate beading that covered more of the dress.
Three-hide dresses were constructed like a poncho worn over a skirt. They were originally separate pieces so that the top could be removed in hot climates, but later examples were one-piece constructions. Beadwork on a Cheyenne three-hide dress displays the characteristic three beaded bands and the four sacred colors of the Cheyenne religion. Red denotes life; yellow refers to the power of the sun; black indicates victory over one’s enemies; and white represents the dawn.
A Sioux girl’s dress from about 1850 is embellished with 150 elk teeth, signifying the superior hunting or trading skills of the girl’s male family members. Since only the two canine teeth of each elk could be used to decorate dresses, they were highly prized. The elk was highly valued, particularly by the Plains societies, and its teeth signified fertility and longevity.
When a Sioux girl completes her first beaded yoke, she is considered a woman; other societies marked a girl’s advance to womanhood with deeply traditional ceremonies. For the Lakota people, Isnati is when girl goes to live apart from the community to be given instruction by the older women on womanhood, including the making and decoration of clothing.
Girls held a place of honor in the family system, and the dresses made for them signified that esteem. A Sicangu Lakota (Sioux) girl’s dress from about 1890 is fully beaded in a lane stitch resembling quillwork, with green and blue geometric designs on a beaded white ground. There is a belt and a matching pair of moccasins and leggings.
Ghost Dance dresses on view have particular meaning. The dances themselves were an expression of native people’s effort to protect their traditional ways in the face of the drastic cultural changes forced upon them as they were confined to reservations. Primarily painted and representing the loss of life at events such as the massacre at Wounded Knee, they are decorated with stars, crescent moons, dragonflies and thunder clouds.
On the reservations, the governments (American and Canadian) permitted only patriotic or Christian ceremonies. Dresses created for such occasions depicted men in warfare or in capturing horses, attesting to their valor. They also incorporated American flags and Canadian maple leaves, and the dresses acquired more fashionable accents, such as squared sleeves and, later, a waist.
In conjunction with “Identity By Design,” the National Museum of the American Indian commissioned a Plains elk hide dress from Joyce Growing Thunder Fogarty, a project consultant for the exhibit. An Assiniboine/Sioux who belongs to the Assiniboine and the Sioux tribes of Fort Peck, Mont., Growing Thunder designed a dress, along with moccasins, leggings, a belt and a purse. The dress is beaded in Sioux traditional design, although replete with Assiniboine influences, that reflect how her grandparents esteemed their grandchildren, who in turn honor those grandparents.
Honor and esteem endure from generation to generation. Growing Thunder, a master beader who has won many awards for her creations, was assisted by her daughter, Juanita. The two spent some 110 hours a week on the dress through the summer of 2006.
“Identity By Design: Tradition, Change and Celebration in Native Women’s Dresses” remains on view through September 2009. The George Gustav Heye Center is at 1 Bowling Green. For information, www.nmai.si.edu or 212-514-3700.
