Dress Adornment.Dine'-Navajo.





Photo by Venaya Yazzie
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2013

 Every year I attend the Santa Fe Indian Market I feel blessed. Among the myriad of events and art activities I always make sure to be at Market early on Sunday to find a front row seat for the Indigenous Fashion Show, which features various of fashioned designed and created by tribal people.

This year's fashion show was exceptional in that it seemed SWAIA really focused on fusing traditional tribal wears with edgy Indigenous fashion. The fashion show content therefore included many layers of traditional and neo Native expression. Even more the show included fashion for the Indigenous male.

I am posting this photograph I took of a young Dine' female child ADORNED in a modern Navajo women's dress, but with more traditionally oriented design. In the picture we see the back of her dress; blouse and  skirt.  We see the use of rick rack trim on the sleeve and back of her blouse, a throwback to the early Navajo womens' dress attire of the 1940s - 1950s era in the southwest.

The use of rick rack trim for ADORNMENT practices was popular amond the Dine' women as  way of supplimenting the prohibition of use of American coins for ADORNMENT. During this time Navajo women were using dimes and quarters on their velveteen blouses as a way of decoration. Later as more and more Navajo silversmiths arose the use of silver-made ornaments were commissioned and used on the blouses.

This picture showcases the use of modern fabrics, but still claims the traditions of Dine' women's ADORNMENT.