Native American Inspired Patterned Dress

North America - Native American

Native American Inspired Patterned Dress

Sizes: L, L (relaxed), XL, XL (relaxed), 2XL

Opacity: 3

Elasticity: This fabric has no significant elasticity but moves comfortably with the wearer, and will slowly stretch to the shape of the wearer over time.

North America is of course made up of the countries of the United States of America and Canada. The history of both these nations is extremely similar to Australia and New Zealand in the sense that these were British (and some French) colonies where people of European extraction came to dominate the population. However, all these nations had existing populations that embodied ancient and sophisticated Indigenous cultures. All of these Indigenous people had their own culture, laws, religious beliefs, languages and artistic expressions. Too often, these individual cultures are thrown into one group (and given titles such as Native Americans) and there is no recognition of their individuality. Sadly, in the USA, the art, architecture and lifestyle of many of these Indigenous societies have been fully absorbed into mainstream colonial American culture, but this has been done without recognition of the origin of these social trends. Likewise, often the art of various Indigenous societies is thrown in with the art of African Americans (a second non-European minority group in the USA), and is given the title of “tribal” design.

Here at Myriad Modest Fashion we reject such disrespect and seek to share the cultures and influences that have built the amazing array of modest clothes available to us today. Sadly, we are not art historians and so are not always able to identify the specific Indigenous cultural groups that may have inspired clothing that is advertised to us as being “tribal” designs. However, we will do all we can to recognise the significant influence Indigenous cultural art has had on much of the design and patterns available to us today. This dress is an example of this phenomenon. It is an amalgam of designs and influences, however we can clearly see many of the motifs and symbols used in Indigenous North American artistry influencing this specific design. Embodying the geometric designs in consistent earthy red, common to many Indigenous cultures of the North American continent, this modest dress is loose and easy to wear. The red and white design provide a level of sophistication which allows this dress to be suitable in work as well as casual settings. Likewise, the consistent red pattern assists in maintaining the opacity on this white dress, with white dresses being notorious for being see-through. However, this dress is quite opaque and only shows any transparency when light shines directly on it. Hence, we recommend wearing pants or a slip dress under it if opacity is vital to your expression of modesty.

This dress has long loose sleeves with an elastic cuff. These sleeves are long, but may sit at a 3/4 length for those with longer arms. Happily, the elastic cuff will help you keep these sleeves pulled down to your desired length.

This is a beautiful and versatile dress with a striking patterned design and it brings us great pleasure to be able to recognise the Indigenous cultures that influenced its creation. We hope to see more recognition of culturally specific design coming from North America in the future.

Garment Measurement in centimetres (bust)

L - 100

L (relaxed) - 104

XL - 108

XL (relaxed) - 112

2XL - 115