Historically considered women’s work, the skill required to cleanly and quickly decorate sewn items for trade became a respected one, if only as a way to support a family in a more non-traditional way rather then as an artform. As colonial expansion and trade allowed for European seed beads in a wide array of colours and steel needles to be more readily available, artisans had more to play with when creating their designs. A multitude of stylistic traditions could be found as a result, each with characteristic techniques, motifs, and colors, and many combined with new forms and functions to entice the new buying audience. As a delightful example, the present Beaded Neck Tie speaks to these juxtapositions. A decidedly western trapping, a neck tie and collar, is dense and heavy with beads, almost fooling the eye into thinking it could be designed fabric. A repeat geometric pattern is carefully and intentionally placed around the collar and down the tie's front, feeling both traditional to the Néhinaw artisan who made it, and boldly new and contemporary to someone wishing a flashy accessory for a special occasion.

For a similar work see, "Necktie and Collar" at the National Museum of The American Indian, object no. 14/3158.