What We Wear

Native American Fashion and Wearable Art
By: Christopher Kotson
Christopher Kotson
ckotson@zagmail.gonzaga.edu

Contemporary Fashion










Betty David of the Spokane Indian Tribe made this jacket, titled "Ice Jacket - White" sometime before her death in August 2007. The artist intended this jacket for public gallery display and sale, and gave it an attractive, minimalist appearance by using red, black, and silver paint to decorate the light leather. The ornamental designs use similar color schemes and symmetrical shapes as the Northwest Coast's historical formline style, reflecting cultural continuity between the experiences of Northwest Coast Natives and Betty David's more recent artistic expression.

David, Betty. Ice Jacket - White, leather, c. 2007, http://bettydavidsale.blogspot.com/2009/12/ice-jacket-white.html. 











Betty David of the Spokane Indian Tribe made this light jacket, titled "Ghost" sometime before her death in August 2007. The artist intended this jacket for public gallery display and sale, and applied black paint to blue ticking fabric, which often covers mattresses and pillows. Here, the artist has maintained the traditional, symmetrical animal designs of the art of Native Americans in the Northwest Coast region and put them on a non-traditional material. The artist clearly wants to portray Native American culture as still significant, beautiful, and applicable today.

David, Betty. Ghost, ticking fabric, c. 2007, http://bettydavidsale.blogspot.com/2008/03/ghost.html.











Betty David of the Spokane Indian Tribe made this jacket, titled "Cheyenne Jacket in Buckskin" sometime before her death in August 2007. The artist intended this jacket for public gallery display and sale, and implemented several stylistic choices of the Great Plains region's Cheyenne people into the work. For example, she used materials like buckskin and beads that Natives in the Great Plains region have traditionally used in their work, and hand-cut and sewed some of the leather trim. The jacket gives contemporary legitimacy to the historical style of the Cheyenne.

David, Betty. Cheyenne Jacket in Buckskin, buckskin, c. 2007, http://bettydavidsale.blogspot.com/2010/01/cheyenne-jacket-long-in-champagne.html.

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