The Selk'nam people took pride in their personal appearance. Any opportunity was taken advantage of for painting their bodies and faces. The most common adornments among women and children were necklaces made of seashells and the bones of birds.
In daily life the men used no adornments, on scarce occasions they used a crown made of feathers, which constituted a privilege and indicated that he was fulfilling a special role, generally during a ceremony.
The main dress was a long cape of guanaco fur, from the neck to the knees, which was used as a protection from the cold. On occasions this cape was made from the skin of foxes or cururos, this last was used by the groups further north. The skins were scrapped and left to stretch on stakes. They were then sewn together using tendons of the same animal.
The male cape was not fixed to the body, the top part must be held together with the left hand against the chest. This allowed the hunters to remove the garment easily in order to capture their prey.