traditional indian clothing

Originally, there were many different traditional clothing styles in North America. Here's a page of breechcloth and legging pictures . In other tribes Indian men wore a short kilt or fur trousers instead of a breechcloth. Most Indian men did not use shirts, but Plains Indian warriors wore special buckskin war shirts decorated with ermine tails, hair, and intricate quillwork and beadwork. Here are pictures of two traditional Sioux war shirts . Most Native American women wore skirts and leggings , though the length, design, and material of the skirts varied from tribe to tribe. In some Indian cultures women's shirts were optional and were usually treated more like coats, while in others, women always wore tunics or mantles in public. Most variable of all were headgear and formal clothing , which were different in nearly every tribe. And in other tribes women usually wore one-piece 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. 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.