History Main / BraidsBeadsandBuckskins

* 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.

* Piper McLean in ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus'' is a half-Cherokee girl who wears her hair mostly loose with small braided portions, often accessorizing the braids with feathers.

* ''WesternAnimation/BrotherBear'' is set in prehistoric ages presumably before the establishment of many of the various North American nations so the producers didn't have to be specific in the details about the Native Americans they were depicting.
** Of course, if the character designs and the locales are anything to go by, they are mostly based on Alaska Natives (most especially the Inuit peoples).

* T. Hawk, who was introduced in ''Super VideoGame/StreetFighter 2 Turbo''. That said, other than the facepaint and feathers he's really just wearing a denim vest and jeans. Extended to the TabletopGame, too; one of the sample characters (using Hawk's style) has this motif, too.

** Connor (Ratohnhaké:ton), his village and some of the multiplayer characters embody this trope; understandable because of the time period.

%%* The three tribes in ''[[Webcomic/TwoMasters 2Masters]]''. they fit this trope to a T.

** When his great-grandfather was slain by muggers, John Ravenhair found himself possessed by the old man’s spirit, which granted him super-powers. As a result, he set forth to avenge the white man’s many injustices against his people. As Black Bison, he wears a bison headdress, leather leggings and breechclout, and moccasins. he carries a coup stick he uses to direct his powers, and a tribal shield.
** 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 on 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).

* MagicalNativeAmerican Nightwolf, from the ''VideoGame/MortalKombat'' games, dresses this way.

* Music/TimMcGraw's song "Indian Outlaw" mentions several tribes, and then describes practices and accouterments that don't belong to any of them.

* The Water Tribes in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' and SequelSeries ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' are the FantasyCounterpartCulture of [[EskimoLand Inuits]], and wear furry parkas, bone necklaces, war paint, and ponytails/mohawks/''[[InsistentTerminology warrior's wolf tails]]''.

** Iron Eyes Cody, the star of [[CryingIndian the famous 1970s anti-littering PSA]] and countless movies, was actually an Italian-American named Espera de Corti.

* Long hair on both sexes, either free-flowing or in a single, thick braid.

* Mohawks.

** The actual native inhabitants, the Elw, are more OurElvesAreBetter with a few Native American elements.

* All the Indians in ''WesternAnimation/PocahontasGoldenFilms'' dressed like this. This is also the case in ''WesternAnimation/YoungPocahontas''.

* ''WesternAnimation/PawPawBears'' are obviously an 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.

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1296336495006742800
%% Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread.

* Averted in ''{{Series/Emergency}}''. Gage wears his uniform or civilian clothes and that's it.

* Music/{{Tara}}'s MV for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PChUEyZTQuM "Yayaya"]] has the girls dressed in this fashion, for [[{{Moe}} obvious reasons]].
* Music/TimMcGraw's song "Indian Outlaw" mentions several tribes, and then describes practices and accouterments that don't belong to any of them.

* Franchise/{{Barbie}} has gone through several Native American editions. Most look like this. That doesn't prevent fans and collectors from designing more authentic outfits for her, and amazingly in 1990 Mattel put out a Tlingit Barbie. Kim Shuk's chapter in Andrew Jolivette's book ''Cultural Representation in Native America'' has a whole chapter on Native Barbie pro and con.

* T. Hawk, who was introduced in ''Super StreetFighter 2 Turbo''. That said, other than the facepaint and feathers he's really just wearing a denim vest and jeans. Extended to the TabletopGame, too; one of the sample characters (using Hawk's style) has this motif, too.

* Half-Native American and half-Chinese Michelle Chang from ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'' plays this straight, with her default costume consisting of a leather vest, a beaded necklace and a headdress with feathers. Her adoptive daughter Julia has much the same costume in her first appearance but later in the series she becomes a scientist with a denim outfit and [[SmartPeopleWearGlasses glasses]], and then a luchadora.
* Zig-zagged in ''VideoGame/RimWorld'', where all tribespeople wear either 'tribalwear' or just trousers, which are always made from some kind of natural material, be it deerskin to alpaca wool, but you can end up making the same items from synthread (a futuristic artificial material produced by machines) and you can end up having tribespeople in your colony wearing button down shirts and parkas if you have the required technology.

* ''VideoGame/KillerInstinct''[='s=] Chief Thunder had this motif in the original games, but the 2013 reboot downplayed it thanks to the developers consulting with the members of the Nez Percé tribe in order to produce a more accurate and respectful portrayal of both Thunder and his brother Eagle.
* MagicalNativeAmerican Nightwolf, from the ''VideoGame/MortalKombat'' games, dresses this way.
* 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.
* 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.
* Yaman and his village in ''VideoGame/EmeraldDragon'' are very clearly fantasy Native Americans, looking very stereotypical.

* 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.
-->"Chicks dig you when you're the last of something."

* In ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', the Native who Cartman briefly thought was his father had braided hair and wore a leather vest over his shirt.

* The Martians in ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' are SpaceJews of Native Americans and wear the stereotypical oufits.
* The Water Tribes in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' and SequelSeries ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' are the FantasyCounterpartCulture of [[EskimoLand Inuits]], and wear furry parkas, bone necklaces, war paint, and ponytails/mohawks/''[[InsistentTerminology warrior's wolf tails]]''.
* Ruffled Feather (who spoke only gibberish voiced by Sandy Becker) and Running Board from Leonardo's ''Go Go Gophers''. The last two members of the Gopher Indian tribe, they wore feathers and blankets in stereotypical fashion. So did Super Chief and Broken Feather of the Mattel-derived "educational" cartoon ''WesternAnimation/TheFunnyCompany''. Very educational.
* Averted in the WesternAnimation/SupermanTheatricalCartoons of the 1940s in "The Electric Earthquake" where the Native American villain is a well spoken WellIntentionedExtremist MadScientist type who dressed in either a contemporary urban suit and tie or in laboratory gear, with only somewhat longer hair to mark his ethnic identity.

* ComicBook/XMen.
** Danielle Moonstar fits the trope well, but there's some justification. She's from the Cheyenne tribe, which actually did wear that style of clothes. Considering she grew up on a reservation, her fashion choice is not that unusual.
** Forge is a Native American, albeit one who largely rejected his heritage and shaman training. Like Dani, he's Cheyenne. His costume still bears some Braids, Beads and Buckskins influences, including fringed boots (and sometimes a fringed vest) as well as long hair and a headband.
** Proving that ''X-Men'' writers are aware of at least ''two'' Native American tribes, there's the Apache brothers Thunderbird and Warpath. Thunderbird's costume had Braids, Beads and Buckskins influences: fringed boots and fringes at the shoulders, and a headband with a pair of feathers. Warpath's original costume was much the same, but his later costumes have discarded those elements.
* Marvel also has Jason Strongbow, a.k.a. American Eagle. Early versions show this character wearing a massive feathered headdress and a costume with a ComicBook/CaptainAmerica-esque red, white, and blue coloring. More recent versions have tuned this down, mostly showing him in a black leather jacket, jeans, and either a black hat or motorcycle helmet. He still has long hair, though.

* Also justified by Shaman and Yukon Jack of Creator/MarvelComics' ''ComicBook/AlphaFlight''. Shaman, Michael Twoyoungmen, is an actual First Nations shaman; it's kind of important for him to stay close to his roots. Yukon Jack is from a tribe that has had zero contact with the outside world in centuries, so it's no wonder that he still mostly just wears a loincloth.
* Tom Fireheart, aka Puma, belongs to an unidentified and fairly nondescript tribe in New Mexico, which he serves as its were-puma warrior, hence his name. He wears his hair cropped, but is often seen wearing Native American jewelry. Other times, he dresses in suits as befits his other role as CEO of Fireheart Enterprises. Tom is morally ambiguous and swings from anti-hero to mercenary to anti-villain depending on the day of the week.
* Played straight with ''The Adventures Of Olivia'' with Penny though less emphasis is on her race as her [[LipstickLesbian sexual skill]] in bagging a blonde doctor and a HotWitch.
* Most if not all Indian tribes in ''ComicBook/LuckyLuke'' follow the same pattern: ugly totem poles, loincloths, adjective-animal names, teepees and raindancing shamans. Of course, it was never meant to be taken seriously. Though there is the occasional subversion, like when a traveller tries to pull off the "shiny glass beads for trade" trick, the chieftain merely says "[[DarkestAfrica the paleface is thinking of the wrong continent]]"
* The ratskins of ''ComicBook/TheRedeemer'' are 40K Native Americans wearing the skins of giant rats.
* Eagle Free, the NobleSavage best friend of the protagonist in ''ComicBook/{{Prez|1973}}'', complete with feather headdress.

* In ''Film/OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest'', [[TheBigGuy Chief]] [[TheVoiceless Bromden]] had long, free-flowing hair.
* ''Film/{{Fargo}}'' and ''Film/{{Insomnia}}'' (the Hollywood remake) had respectively a mechanic and a police constable with long, braided hair.
* Played straight in ''Film/DeadLands'' where all of the Maori wore grass skirts, animal pelts and braided hair.
* Lampshaded and subverted in ''Film/{{Transamerica}}''. Toby asks Calvin Manygoats why a Native guy wears a cowboy hat. Calvin points out that it keeps the sun out of his eyes better than a headband and two eagle feathers.

* 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.

* 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.
* Despite not being humans and living on a planet far from Earth, the [[{{Film/Avatar}} Na'vi]] wear plenty of this sort of clothing.
* If you want to see films showing how Indian people dress and live today, watch ''Film/SmokeSignals'' or anything else by Creator/ShermanAlexie. For modern Lakhota, watch ''Film/{{Thunderheart}}''. [[http://nativeappropriations.com/2010/07/the-best-native-films-by-or-about-indigenous-peoples.html There is an excellent list of Native-made films here.]] To see traditional and modern dress, go to a pow-wow. You can see the differences and similarities between different tribes. There are several documentaries about pow-wows showing everyday attire along with the regalia worn for the dances.
* Played entirely straight in the Creator/ShirleyTemple film ''Film/SusannahOfTheMounties'', along with numerous other Indian clichés.

* In ''Film/TheChargeAtFeatherRiver'', Jennie [=McKeever=], a white woman [[GoingNative gone native]], is dressed in a figure-hugging beaded and fringed buckskin dress, moccasins, and a beaded headband, and has her long hair in two heavy braids.

* Subverted in ''Literature/PigsInHeaven'': When a white character tells a Cherokee woman that she wears nice handmade moccasins, she replies she bought them from a hippie store in Denver, since everyone in her part of Oklahoma actually wears boots.
* The "redskins" (Native...somethings, we can go with Americans) from ''Literature/PeterPan'' wear feathers in their hair, say "How", and well...any racist stereotype of Native Americans you can think of. As cringey as the depiction may be to modern readers, it may actually be justified InUniverse, as Neverland is the world of imagination. Neverland's "Red Indians" are the kind imagined by small children who like stories about InjunCountry, complete with a Pocahontas-esque IndianMaiden named Princess Tiger Lily. Not to mention that the source material was written in England during TheEdwardianEra, so some ValuesDissonance is to be expected.
* Averted with LampshadeHanging in ''Literature/TheTrueMeaningOfSmekday'': When eleven-year-old Tip meets an Indian, she notes in her narration that he was dressed normally, "no buckskin or beads or anything", and then immediately apologises for having felt that it needed to be mentioned.
* Averted in ''{{Love Medicine}}'', where the only member of the tribe that does adhere the dress code, Moses Pillager, is shunned by the rest of the tribe.

* Lula in ''Literature/SomeoneElsesWar'', which is particularly odd because she's not Native American, but East African.

* In the children's book ''The Shaman's Last Raid'' a modern Apache Indian dressed like this, complete with feather war bonnet, to the extreme annoyance of his grandfather, the Shaman of the title.
* Played for laughs in the Creator/RobertLudlum novel ''The Road to Omaha''. Semi-crazy General Hawkins brings a lawsuit to the Supreme Court on how the U.S. government stole basically the entire state of Nebraska from an obscure Indian tribe. Hawkins goes all in, even taking on the name of Chief Thunder Head and acting "in tradition." That includes having the others of the Tribe go around almost naked all the time, including before reporters. Charlie Sunset, a young member of the tribe, tears into Hawkins on how "no one in our history has ever dressed like this!" but Hawkins insists on continuing.
* In one of ''The Hardy Boys'' novels, the characters visit an Indian reservation and so one of them wears a feathered headdress, looking nothing like the people who live there who are just dressed in ordinary Western clothes.
* In the ''Literature/GodsOfManhattan'' series, the Munsees are all spirits of their historical counterparts, and thus still dress the way they did back when they still roamed the area that became New York.

* An {{JustForFun/egregious}} example of this has the (Japanese) cast of ''Anime/{{Gigantor}}'' visit Australia, where they meet Aboriginals... who ride horses, say "How," and wear Braids, Beads and Buckskins.

* Tatanka from ''Manga/{{Eyeshield 21}}'' sports war paint whenever he's on the field. He also wears his long hair in a braid.
* Senri and the rest of the Kim-un-kur of ''Manga/PlusAnima''.

* Ao in ''Anime/FreedomProject'', though she swaps the buckskins for a pair of Daisy Dukes.
* Bora and his son Upa in ''Manga/DragonBall'', and by implication the rest of their tribe, have the dress sense, as well as the technology and the spiritual yet tough worldview, of the "noble savage" archetype. They also live in tipis and protect Karin's Tower, which resembles a giant totem pole.

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

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 ''Disney/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.

* {{Averted}} in the case of the real-life [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocahontas Pocahontas,]] who married a white man (not John Smith), converted to Christianity, and wore European clothing.

While aspects of these outfits are TruthInTelevision for some tribes, some of the time,[[note]]Large amounts of beading and jewelry for example is reserved for special occasions.[[/note]] North America is a big place, with a great deal of variation between Native cultures. Plus these aspects are occasionally applied to Native cultures outside of the US, leading to confusion as to why indigenous people in Peru are wearing buckskin. But since most writers are mainly concerned with making money and don't want to be bothered with research, the common portrayal fails to capture this wide variety. Many tribes' traditional outfits look nothing like the stereotype.

[[folder:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]

* Averted In the ''{{Series/Emergency}}'' fic [[http://www.tbillingsemergencyfanfic.com/eyeofthebeholderpart1.htm "Eye of the Beholder"]] and others in the series. Chet Kelly makes a crack about John Gage's fiance not wearing buckskins when John shows the guys her picture, and John replies that he and she have them but they're only for special occasions. John does wear his for his naming ceremony in the previous fic, [[http://www.tbillingsemergencyfanfic.com/returnpart1.htm "Return,"]] but is rather embarrassed with how he looks, especially when Roy takes a picture. They also show up during the native wedding ceremony in [[http://www.tbillingsemergencyfanfic.com/christmasinlamedeerpart1.htm "Christmas in Lame Deer."]]

[[folder:{{Film}} - Animated]]
* Portrayed rather... [[UnfortunateImplications unfortunately]] in ''Disney/PeterPan.'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_at9dOElQk What makes the Red Man Red indeed...]]

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[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''[[Webcomic/NahastLandsOfStrife Nahast: Lands of Strife]]'' contains a few minor examples, most notably on Xu're.
* Averted and played straight with siblings Bia Baingwa and Dabai Sadee Johanson of Webcomic/SurprisingOcteal. Bia dresses pretty dapper while Sadee dressing like this when on patrol as the hero "Kichi Coyote".
* The three tribes in ''[[Webcomic/TwoMasters 2Masters]]''. they fit this trope to a T.

* Averted and played straight with siblings Bia Baingwa and Dabai Sadee Johanson of Webcomic/SurprisingOcteal. Bia doesn't wear this while Sadee does when on patrol as the hero "Kichi Coyote".