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Dressing the Part [Stereotypic Native Clothing] (12 pages)
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Page: of 12
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Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology
Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 55-66 (1982).
Dressing the Part:
A Brief Look at the Development of
Stereotypical Indian Clothing
Among Native Peoples in the Far West
. Bee stereotyped picture of the American
Indian as a homogenous group of people
living in tipis, wearing war bonnets, and
swooping down on stagecoaches while riding
pinto ponies is a familiar one. Not a new
image, it was well established by the turn of
the century, fortified and strengthened by
wild west shows, paintings, dime novels,
postcards, cigar store Indians, advertising materials, and later, motion pictures. By the
1920s native Californians who participated in
pageants and other celebrations had begun to
develop their own style of costuming, based
on the romantic Indian image, apparently to
satisfy the request of Anglo-Americans who
needed Indians to look as they thought
Indians should.
This paper will attempt to bring together
available data on the acquisition, manufacture, and use of stereotypical Indian clothing
among native Californians. It will briefly
describe clothing at the time of contact with
non-indigenous peoples and discuss the reasons that caused native people to adopt this
new style of dress for public presentations.
DEVELOPMENT OF STEREOTYPICAL
INDIAN CLOTHING
Clothing among most groups in California
and Nevada was scant. In pre-contact times, a
Craig D, Bates, National Park Service, P.O. Box 577,
Yosemite National Park, CA 95389,
CRAIG D. BATES
skirt, in one or two pieces, was worn by
women, Undecorated aprons of sagebrush
bark were used by some of the Paiute people,
while others made of buckskin and decorated
with shells and beads were reserved for
ceremonial occasions by many northern California people; in nearly all cases the torso was
left bare. At dances women would don yards
of beads, made of clamshell, pine nuts, or
other materials; the quantity of beads often
indicating the affluence of the wearer. Headwear differed from one group to the next;
some northern groups using basketry caps,
others having a great range of styles from
feather topknots to elaborate forehead bands
of fur or those woven of cordage and small
feathers. Each of these items had its place
within the traditional ceremonial regalia of
the people, with different objects reserved for
specific ritual functions (Kroeber 1925).
Men’s clothing was sparse: a simple buckskin breechcloth or nothing but a thong about
the waist from which to hang snares, pouches,
and other items. Ceremonial gear was exXtremely elaborate, with a variety of clothing
styles involving extensive use of various feathers. With these feathers and other natural
materials, a wide range of headpieces, cloaks,
and other objects was created. Most dances in
central California were secular by nature, and
often were given at specific times of the year.
Thus, regalia was stored out of sight and
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