Adobe Gallery Blog

Santa Fe Style fashion has been modeled somewhat from the velveteen clothing of Navajo women. The simple velveteen blouse of the Navajo was expanded to a full dress when converted to Santa Fe Style. Westerners have a vivid picture of what a typical Navajo woman wears while weaving rugs or when attending ceremonial and social occasions. This romanticized vision consists of a beautiful velveteen blouse covered with silver buttons and pins.

This romanticized vision we have today had its beginnings in adverse times for the Navajo. Before the arrival of the Spaniards, Navajo dress consisted of the Pueblo-influenced biil, the two- piece wool dress worn over one shoulder and under the other. In the mid-1800s, westward expansion, resisted by the Navajo, forced the Government to take action against the Navajo in their own lands, eventually imprisoning them at Fort Sumner, New Mexico. During this four-year period of internment, Navajo women who had been taken as servants were taught to sew by their captors. This new style of clothing is a result of this period of capture.

Regardless of the harsh beginnings of this style of clothing, it is now accepted by Navajo women and is standard dress today. This red velveteen blouse is very typical of the traditional style and was purchased on the Navajo Reservation in the 1950s.

The left sleeve of the blouse has 12 small silver buttons on the outer edge and two silver and turquoise buttons on the inner edge. The right sleeve has the same mixture. V-shaped silver repoussé collar tabs are stitched to both collars. On the front of the blouse, from the bottom up, are 8 small repoussé butterfly buttons, above which are three larger silver and turquoise butterfly pins.

Subject: Diné (Navajo) Velveteen Blouse with Silver Buttons
Unknown Maker
Category: Clothing
Origin: Diné - Navajo Nation
Medium: Fabric, Silver, Turquoise
Size: Ladies Medium
Item # 25362