The myth of the Cherokee "tear" dress

The myth of the Cherokee "tear" dress

Author: * Moonbeam MorningStar -
Date: Mar 5, 2004 - 09:30

It is a popular myth that the traditional dress of Cherokee women is a "tear" dress made of strips of torn fabric which is supposed to be the style that they wore on the actual Trail of Tears(1838-39). This popular misconception has spread like wildfire since the early 70's to the extent that even many native women wear these, unaware of the real story behind them.

Cherokee women never really had a traditional "style" of dress that set them apart from any of the other southeastern tribes. Their clothing was mainly very simple, scanty, and practical uni-sex garments made of pelts or furs held together with belts made by simple finger weaving.

The fashions of the east coast during the frontier era had little to do with what Cherokee women wore. And the legendary "tear dress" is not even in the right style to fit into the Trail of Tears era.

Here's what really happened.

The first "tear" dress was made in 1969 and had nothing to do with ethnic pride. It was actually the opposite.

In 1968 Virginia Stroud, a Cherokee woman, was named Miss Indian America and received this title while wearing a buckskin dress - a Kiowa buckskin dress! W.W. Keeler, Cherokee chief at that time, was called upon by a group of Cherokee women who asked him to help them find an outfit for Ms Stroud that would better signify traditional Cherokee dress. There was a committee of Cherokee women appointed for this search. Of course they couldn't find anything acceptable.

Finally one of the women on the committee, Wynona Day, found a hand made dress that belonged to her grandmother in an old trunk among some possessions she inherited from her mother. The committee decided this would be appropriate and so Virginia Stroud's sister made a new dress that was copied in every detail from the old one. And this was the true origin of the legendary "tear" dress - created in 1969.

The dress is actually in the "prairie" style that the Oklahoma Cherokee women wore and has nothing to do with the Trail of Tears.

One feature of traditional Cherokee dress for women, however, which came later after the missionaries opened the trade routes and looms became available, is a long apron and a turban-like headwrap that could also be loosened and worn around the neck. These two garments were practical for their climate and everyday life.