What were Navajo clothes like? Did the Navajos wear feather headdresses and face paint?
Originally, Navajo men wore breechcloths and the women wore skirts made of woven yucca fiber. Shirts were not necessary in Navajo culture, but both men and women wore deerskin ponchos or cloaks of rabbit fur in cool weather, and moccasins on their feet. After sheep were introduced and Navajo women could weave larger woolen items, men began to wear poncho-style wool shirts, women began to wear wool dresses with shoulder straps, and heavy wool blankets began to replace fur cloaks. In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, long velveteen shirts and blouses came into fashion and Mexican-style full cotton skirts became popular with Navajo women. These styles are still popular today. Here is a site with sketches of 19th-century Apache and Navajo clothing styles, and some photos and links about Indian clothes in general. The Navajos did not traditionally wear feather warbonnets. Navajo men usually wore cloth headbands tied around their foreheads instead. Both men and women wore their hair gathered
