History Main / BraidsBeadsAndBuckskins

** Silver Deer is a trained sorceress, martial artist and terrorist seeking to avenge the deaths of her father and brother at the hands of bigoted whites. Her costume is a white doeskin vest with feathers down one sleeve, an Indian headband, a breechclout over trunks, and...[[StockingFiller fishnets]]? Her powers include the stereotypical ability to shapeshift into any animal, and the ability to telekinetically influence games of chance) (which various commentators have pointed has UnfortunateImplications in linking her to native American casinos).

* Portrayed rather... [[UnfortunateImplications unfortunately]] in ''WesternAnimation/PeterPan.'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_at9dOElQk What makes the Red Man Red indeed...]]

* Largely downplayed with Chief Thunderbird, mostly limited too he a feathered headdress he wore as entrance attire.

Another form of this is when Native American tribes are shown doing things and using stuff that belongs to a myriad of different tribes -- an example of this being Disney's ''WesternAnimation/PeterPan'' film, which juxtaposes [[TipisAndTotemPoles tipis (Great Plains tribes) and totem poles (Pacific Northwest coastal tribes)]]. In reality, this is as jarring and inaccurate to a more learned viewer as portraying Vikings with Grecian temples.

* Justified by Little Sure Shot of [[{{Comicbook/SgtRock}} Sgt. Rock]]'s Easy Company. He does have feathers on the back of his helmet, but they're commented on, unlike most examples. Sure Shot's a full-blooded Cherokee ColdSniper who needs to be identifiable from a relative distance, hence the feathers.

* Played straight in ''Film/DeadLands'' where all of the Maori wore grass skirts, animal pelts and braided hair.

* The [[BirdPeople Rito]] are given this aesthetic in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'', as indicated by their braided feathers resembling hair braids, simple leather clothes, informal social hierarchy compared to other races of Hyrule (they have an elder whose domicile is no fancier than other lodgings), and preference for simpler wooden weapons such as bows and spears. It's even more obvious when Link is wearing the Snowquill armor set sold at their village, which gives off a major "northern Plains Indian in winter" vibe.

* ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'': In the New York special, we're introduced to Jess, whose leather-bound braids and traditional disk earrings are the only indicators that she's of Native American descent. [[spoiler:As Eagle, she wears her hair in a single braid, her earrings get feathers added to them, and her costume appears to have the texture of leather.]]

* Played for cringe in ''Fanfic/TheWeddingCrashers'', when it’s made painfully obvious that the dresses chosen for the Quiluete women attending [[Literature/{{Twilight}} Renesmee’s wedding]] were intended to be more “tribal” in nature, as opposed to the fancier gowns worn by the vampires, with [[Series/{{Supernatural}} the Winchesters]] noting that they’re far from flattering.

* Seen in a flashback in the ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' movie. The La Push natives wear bone jewelery and skirts while hunting in the 1930's. In the sequel, Jacob gets his long hair cropped, as he does in the book.

* In the ''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Star Trek]]'' episode "The Paradise Syndrome" the people were supposed to be a mixture of Delaware (Lenape), Mohican and Navajo. The longhouse-type lodge is consistent with Eastern civilizations, but next to it was a Plains-type tipi rather than a Navajo hogan. In fact there was almost nothing Navajo about any of it. Feathered cloaks are Aztec, not Native North American. Miramanee and several other characters are wearing headbands and belts -- traditional for Eastern tribes -- but they're woven of glass seed beads, which were a European trade item. (Never mind the fact that they're strung on ''elastic thread''.)
* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''. Rather than give Chakotay an actual Native American tribe, the writers just made one up and presented a bunch of cliches to go with it. Then due to Robert Beltran's Mesoamerican heritage, they moved this fictional tribe down to Central America. So we have a tribe in the jungle who worship sky spirits (despite only glimpsing the sky), have vision quests (sweat lodges in the jungle?), medicine wheels and medicine bundles, and ancestor worship (more of an Asian practice) and facial tattoos that look more Maori than Native American. It didn't help that Jamake Highwater, their consultant on Native American culture, turned out to be a fraud.

* Cernd from ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'' wears this kind of getup, judging by his portrait. Considering he's comes from Amn (FantasyCounterpartCulture to Spain) and is supposed to represent a druid (a NatureHero archetype originating from Celtic mythology), it... Makes no sense whatsoever.

* [[FuturePrimitive Tribals]] are a staple of the ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' series. Several of them, particularly the ones that appear in ''Honest Hearts'', have a distinctly Native American aesthetic despite being mostly ethnically white.

* ''WesternAnimation/PawPawBears'' are obviously a variant of ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'' with a mishmash of Native American cultures like the Pacific Coast nations with magic totem poles and Eastern ones like Bravepaw's mohawk. At least, they are FunnyAnimal characters so the producers didn't have to pretend they were trying to accurate.

* Allen Bradford from ''Manga/TheFiveStarStories'', which is strange because despite looking like a Native American, he comes from a another planet ALongTimeAgoInAGalaxyFarFarAway.

Another form of this is when Native American tribes are shown doing things and using stuff that belongs to a myriad of different tribes - an example of this being Disney's ''WesternAnimation/PeterPan'' film, which juxtaposes [[TipisAndTotemPoles tipis (Great Plains tribes) and totem poles (Pacific Northwest coastal tribes)]]. In reality, this is as jarring and inaccurate to a more learned viewer as portraying Vikings with Grecian temples.

* Notably avoided in ''Film/LastOfTheMohicans'', but played straight where appropriate. The tribes mostly wear [[GorgeousPeriodDress homespun]], just like the white settlers, but the warriors wear fringed leather leggings. Head-dress and facepaint are [[ShownTheirWork period-accurate]]: only the Mohawks wear mohawks, etc. Oddly, the white, adopted son [[SupportingLeader Hawkeye]] embodies this trope completely.

* The Tauren in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' are thinly-disguised shamanistic Native Americans. Cairne Bloodhoof, the now-dead Tauren chieftan, had braided hair, animal-skin body armor, and even a couple of ceremonial head feathers. Almost every other Tauren in the game - players included - has at least one of those. He also wields a giant freaking totem pole as a weapon.

* When they appear in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', Native Americans invariably have braided hair and hats. Except for the "Mohican" who appears in the episode ''The Bart of War'', although, like John Redcorn below, it's implied that he this be a conscious use of this trope on his part.

* In ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'', the Cahuilla Indian [[UsefulNotes/{{Psychopomp}} death-god]] Muut is shown wearing tasseled buckskin pants. [[WalkingShirtlessScene And no shirt.]]

The HollywoodDressCode for Native Americans portrayed in the pre-modern age and, all too often, modern days. Typical traits of the uniform include:

* ''ComicBook/{{Firestorm}}'' villains Black Bison and Silver Deer both fit this stereotype.

* Dawnstar of DC's ''Comicbook/{{Legion Of Super-Heroes}}'' lives in the 30th century on another planet, but wears a fringed buckskin dress and boots anyhow. Justified by her planet having been colonized by 13th Century Native Americans (ItMakesSenseInContext.)

* ''Film/{{Avatar}}'': * Despite not being humans and living on a planet far from Earth, the Na'vi wear plenty of this sort of clothing.

* Cathy Smith and Larry Belitz went all out to give ''Film/DancesWithWolves'' as much accuracy as possible in dress and decoration, weapons, utensils, tipis and the all-important sacred paint.
** With the exception of Mary McDonnell as Stands-With-a-Fist who despite being raised by the Sioux from childhood, sports a very 1980s layered haircut (in notable contrast to all the Sioux actresses who have much more period-typical long hair).

* ''Film/{{Fargo}}'' and ''Film/{{Insomnia}}'' (the Hollywood remake) had respectively a mechanic and a police constable with long, braided hair.

* Piper =McLean= in ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus'' is a half-Cherokee girl who wears her hair in braids, often accessorizing the braids with feathers. Otherwise averted; she dresses like a typical 21st-century high school girl.