Powwow Regalia

Although powwows are intertribal and welcome Native peoples from not only all of North America, but the western hemisphere, the individuals who participate come representing their specific nations-tribes as well as clans, bands, and families. They do this through the dances and dance styles they perform or the songs they sing, and their dress. Dress and performance arts are, moreover, complementary forms of Native cultural expression, whereby powwow participants tailor their clothes and regalia for specific dances, such as the Gourd Dance or the Grass Dance for men and the Fancy (Shawl) Dance or Jingle Dance for women. Regardless of their chosen dances, Plains powwow participants wear elaborately beaded ensembles. Women typically wear beaded dresses, moccasins or boots, belts, crowns, braid-ties, shawls, chokers, and backdrops. Men’s dress can include beaded tunics, pants-leggings, aprons, capes, harnesses, side-drops, armbands, cuffs, anklets, leg-bands, moccasins, headbands, braid-ties, and bustles.

But please don’t call them “costumes.” The long history of non-Natives dressing up as Indians makes the term “costume,” used for clothing that American Indians self-consciously make and wear in order to affirm their Native identities, objectionable.

Southern Plains woman's ensemble (2000) for Joy Tonepahhote (Kiowa, Guaymi)

Southern Plains woman's ensemble (2008) for Rozlynn Tonepahhote (Kiowa, Oneida)

Southern Plains woman's ensemble (2011) for Robyn ChiaparasTonepahhote (Kiowa, Oneida)

Men's Grass Dance ensemble (2022) for Ben Geboe (Sioux)