Cherokee clothing

We can't really be sure what Cherokee people wore because there are no pictures from before Spanish men invaded about 1500 AD.

What made Cherokee men look different from other people living in North America at this time was their haircuts. They shaved most of their hair off and just had one lock at the top of their heads.

According to these Spanish men, Cherokee people made some of their clothing out of deerskins or the skins of other animals. They wove other clothing out of bark strips or strands of hemp (they didn't spin).

It seems that in summer, women wore skirts down just below their knees, sometimes made of deerskin or by sewing together smaller rabbit skins, and sometimes woven out of bark strips or hemp. Men wore shorts and long shirts made out of deerskin that came down past the top of their high boots.

Men had tall rawhide boots, up above their knees, to protect their feet and legs from thorn bushes when they were hunting. (The Cherokee didn't know how to make leather, either). The boots had fringes cut along their tops.

Women just wore low moccasins on their feet, because they didn't go into the forest so much. Children generally went barefoot or wore moccasins in cold weather.

When they were working hard, people didn't wear much clothing, just shorts for men and mini-skirts for women.

In the winter, people also wore fur cloaks and long deerskin capes tied around them to keep warm. Sometimes they made fancy cloaks out of feathers sewn together.