A Suggested Study of Costumes 



By CLARK WISSLER 



THE exhibits Lii the American In- 

 dian halls are now so system- 

 atic and extensive that the more 

 serious minded visitor may find an 

 unsuspected number of fascinating sub- 

 jects for inquiry. Take, for example, 

 the very common and homely matter of 

 clothing. In the hall for the Plains 

 Indians, in the cases for the Dakota 

 (Sioux) tribes, are a number of hand- 

 some shirts for men. In the wall case 

 adjoining the Cree collection is a very 

 old shirt of this type, collected in 1838. 

 On examination we find it to be made of 

 two whole deerskins, so cut as to use all 

 ot the material with very little trimming. 

 The shape of a skin as taken by the 

 Indian is shown on page 466, and also 

 the lines for cutting a shirt pattern. 

 The next sketch shows how these pieces 

 are fitted together to form the shirt. 

 One must con- 

 cede that the In- 

 dian women had 

 developed a most 

 systematic pro- 

 cedure and one 

 that shows great 

 economy of labor 

 and materials. 



There are many 

 other equally 

 meritorious tricks 

 of the pattern 

 that we cannot 

 note here. A 

 point of more 

 general interest 

 and significance 

 is the fact that 

 the peculiar con- 

 tour of the sleeves 



and the skirt, which must at first impress 

 one as a monstrosity of style, is wholly 

 determined by the natural form of the 

 deerskin. Thus, the long streamers at 

 the sides are the deer's hind legs while 

 those of the sleeve are the fore legs. On 

 some shirts the pendent tail forms a 

 center ornament to the skirt. 



Perhaps we have here a principle of 

 primitive tailoring that applies to other 

 garments. For example, the women of 

 the Plains wear a long skin dress as may 

 be seen on the figures in the hall. When 

 we examine these dresses we find them 

 made of two entire deerskins as shown in 

 the sketch, but now the tails are at the 

 top, the neck at the bottom. The 

 bottom of the skirt thus has a peculiar 

 contour, trailing sides and a center 

 piece. In the older specimens the lines 

 follow closely the natural form of the 



Indian shirt made from two deerskins. Compare with pattern on next page, 

 drawing is from a specimen collected in 1838 



This 



