Most Makah men habitually did not wear clothing at all. However, there is a small portion who wore breech-clouts at times. Women made their short skirts from cedar bark or grass. The women of the Northwest Coast developed textiles from the adaptation of their basket designs, using cedar bark or spruce roots.

During rainy days, they wore tule rush capes. The Makah people would put on tunics, moccasins and cloaks on their feet when the weather turned colder. The community began to wear blanket robes only after the influence by the European.

Both men and women wore a basketry hat at times. It was ingeniously made of delicately woven spruce root and, more often than not, used to display a person’s status and family relations based on the different designs and patterns.

Different colors painted on the faces indicated the oncoming events like for festive occasions, religious ceremonies and war. Women have the traditions of tribal tattoo designs. They habitually trimmed their hair in one or two long braids while the men there loved curling theirs into a topknot and usually wore mustaches and beards.
Though blanket cloak or basket hat are still seen in Makah clothing in the present days, but the community seldom wear breechcloths now but jeans instead.

Makah Cedar Clothing

Makah people were famous with the ingenious skill to make clothing from cedar though it seems an unlikely raw material for that matter. The Coast Salish could twist the bark into thread beautifully. Woven bark thread made clothing soft and warm. Women shaped it into aprons when the weather turned warm. When cold, they made cloaks and long dresses which were wrapped by a belt and trimmed with fur.

Makah men put on cedar bark robes during ritual events. In fact, when Europeans first visited the Northwest Coast, cedar bark robes were the traditional clothing and outer garments for both men and women.

Are You Looking For Modern Makah Clothing?

If you are not looking for cedar bark cape but sky woman cape, modern Makah clothing instead of traditional ones, I think you mean native American Indian clothing. The three Indian-owned fashion labels are Tammy Beauvais Designs, Dorothy Grant Haida Art and Betty David Shearlings. Have a glance on their master artworks below.