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• Apsáalooke artist
• 1930s
• Wool, glass beads, bone, leather, cotton
• The L.D. and Ruth Bax Collection, 1985.46

Dresses like this are called elk-tooth dresses. In earlier days, it would have been made of beautiful buckskin, but after colonization, Indigenous peoples had access to new materials like the wool trade cloth shown here. Only the two eyeteeth of a bull elk are used to adorn an elk-tooth dress, making the number of teeth indicative of the hunting and trading abilities of the men in the wearer's family, giving her clout and bragging rights.