Navy blue cotton vest with beadwork. Front of vest is navy blue, and has various beadwork designs, three plastic buttons, and has a teal silk ribbon border around the bottom edge. Back of vest is green, and also has various beadwork designs. Vest is lined with cotton. Beadwork sewn using spot stitch.

Vests covered in beads did not become prevalent until the 1890s and 1900s, when beadwork had become popular and beads easily accessible. The vests typically were decorated with geometric designs, though some of the more northern Plains tribes began using floral patterns much later (Paterek 1994, 87).

The Plains and Plateau Indians decorated their clothing and hides with quillwork, paint, and fringe not only because of the aesthetics, but because the beautification “did honor to the spirit of the animal” (Furst and Furst 1982, 165). Animal skins possessed spirit power from the original animals because the skins had given the animals their forms. Therefore, if people decorate the skin, thus honoring it, the animal will send its goodwill to the people.