Fashion history of South America

Published: July 28, 2026 · Updated: July 28, 2026

South American dress centres on the great Andean textile tradition — one of the world's finest — in which the tunic (unku) and mantle (lliclla), woven of alpaca and vicuña wool and cotton on the backstrap loom, were the highest mark of wealth and status. After the Spanish conquest, Western dress and the mestizo skirt were added, and modern South America keeps Western fashion alongside living Indigenous dress.

Fashion history of South America — Author: Felipe Guamán Poma de Ayala — the Inca Topa Yupanqui (c. 1615) Public domain Source

Overview

In the Andes, cloth itself was the most valued wealth and marked rank and power. The backstrap-woven tunic and mantle, and the poncho, were the consistent frame of dress.

The story of dress

After the fine textiles of Paracas and the Inca, the Spanish conquest brought Western dress. Modern South America keeps living traditions within Western fashion — the Andean skirt (pollera) and bowler hat, the poncho, and the dress of the gaucho herders.

Periods

Fashion in the Paleo-Indian period c. 13,000–8000 BC
Fashion in the Archaic period c. 8000–1800 BC
Fashion in the Early Andean Civilizations c. 1800 BC–AD 200
Fashion in the Regional Andean States c. AD 200–1000
Fashion in the Late Pre-Inca Kingdoms c. 1000–1438
Fashion in the Inca Empire c. 1438–1533
Fashion at the European Conquest 1524–1572
Fashion in the Colonial Era c. 1542–1810
Fashion in the Wars of Independence 1810–1826
Fashion in Modern South America 1826–present