Vintage Oglala Lakota Beaded Pictorial Horse Vest By Douglas Fast Horse

What does an ethnologist with a keen sense of fashion wear to lecture at a museum? Well, this marvelous vintage hand beaded vest is once such article of clothing.

The exceptional pictorial vest is a handmade work of art by Douglas Fast Horse, an Oglala Lakota born in 1943. The front of the vest depicts two warriors on horseback in vivid detail and color. The back of the vest is a beaded medallion with four pairs of dangling stacked beads. You'll lightly jingle and jangle as you walk. 

This is something you'll wear more than once during the times in life that call for something a little bit extra. In fact, it's the rare clothing item you can actually gift to your children one day. When you wear this, you really don't need many other accessories although choosing the perfect ones to go with it will always be fun. 

Douglas Fast Horse created this vest in 1985, and it was eventually sold by Cathy Vogele, one of the founders of the Sioux Trading Post in Rapid City, South Dakota.

The vest measures 22 1/2" across the front from arm hole to arm hole and 19" long from top of shoulder to bottom of vest. It's also signed. The vest is in excellent condition save for one small marring in the top shoulder as pictured. 

A similar Douglas Fast Horse vest was part of the celebrated Marilyn Eber Native American art Collection. Marilyn Eber (1937-2019) was an important figure in the Denver art scene and received Emeritus status after spending 15 years as a docent for the Denver Art Museum.