Ladies Cloth Dress

Ladies Cloth is a form of women’s dress and has both a Northern and Southern style. The Southern style is danced by the Kiowas, Osage, Ponca, and others. The Northern style is danced by the Sioux, Crow, and others. The dance is a slow and graceful one much like the Women’s Buckskin style.

There are many tribal variations with the outfit, including wearing a cloth dress or a wool dress and others. The basic outfit consists of several parts. The boots are a high top moccasins that is usually partially beaded. The dress is a long dress with open sleeves. The bottom of the dress is covered in a wrap that is usually a contrasting color or pattern. The wrap is sometimes fringed like a shawl. This style has a breast plate similar to the Buckskin dress. This breastplate however has a front and back to it as opposed to the one sided style worn by Buckskin dancers. The belt is either silver conchos or beaded with a drag. The women also wear three other items on the belt are the awl case, strike a lit and tobacco pouch. The dancer sometimes wears a scarf and choker. They also will carry a fan, purse and shawl.

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