Man's Tunic

The Andean region of South America was home to one of the longest, most complex textile histories in the world. Since Precolumbian times, sleeveless tunics reaching to the knees and worn over a loincloth, were the primary male garment in the Andean region of South America. This ethnographic example was created by artists of the Shipibo-Conibo community, an indigenous group of the Ucayali River region on the eastern slope of the Andes, in the Amazon basin. The garment was created from two warp-face panels, folded in half vertically, then seamed together at the center and at the sides, leaving three vertical openings for the head and arms. The geometric patterns were painted after the two panels were joined at the center, and then the side seams were stitched after the tunic was fully painted.