Red-Hot metrosexuals go wa-a-a-y back

     

 Naiche (Apache)                                   Karl Moon’s “A Navajo Boy”

Metrosexual usually refers to a straight man who has good fashion taste, the way so many gay men do. Long before metrosexuals, America was was famous for real men who dressed with flair, flamboyance and the rawest materials nature had to offer. Seashell, bone and feather necklaces, dangly earrings and long hair–yet these men looked manly, fabulously well dressed, and …well, don’t listen to me. See for yourself.

   

Red Fish -Dakota Sioux                    White Belly ( Sioux ) -great make-up!

     

Karl Moon: more Navajo Boys (above)

Naiche

 

                      

Ostoho, Apache Cowboy (left, 1903)  reminds me of….I dunno, young Martin Sheen? I can only say Johnny Depp (part Cherokee or not), eat your heart out. These were men. My favorite is Karl Moon’s “A Navajo Boy” (dated around 1906) and the various images of Naiche, son of the Apache chief Cochise. Naiche’s brother Tazo was groomed to be the next chief, while Naiche was allowed to play and have fun. Tazo died of pneumonia in D.C., leaving an ill-prepared little brother who was happy to let Geronimo take the reins after both Cochise and Tazo were gone.

Here’s a heartbreaking before and after image of a Navajo boy taken by the Carlisle School (boarding schools set up to “tame” Native American children into being “Good” citizens. He looked more manly as a metrosexual.

The women were also incredible, of course. Below, left, is Lozen:

    

Lozen, the Chiricahua Apache warrior woman (c. 1840-1890) is also shown above, right, in a  colorization by Wakiya. In the center is her brother Victorio, who said, “Lozen is my right hand, strong as a man, braver than most and cunning in strategy. Lozen is a shield to her people.” She fought beside Geronimo and died of tuberculosis in confinement at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

Mescalero Apache Warrior Woman Dahteste (supposedly pronounced ta-DOT-say, which I don’t get from the spelling) was said to be a beautiful woman who took great pride in her appearance. She married and had children, yet chose the life of the warrior. She could out-ride, out-shoot, out-hunt, out-run, and out-fight her peers, male and female, with grace. Courageous, daring and skillful, she took part in battles and raiding parties alongside her husband and a good friend of her family, Geronimo.

Fluent in English, Dahteste became a trusted scout, messenger and mediator between her people and the U.S. Cavalry. Along with Lozen, Dahteste was instrumental in the final surrender of Geronimo to the U.S. Government and, as thanks for her efforts in their behalf, she was imprisoned with Geronimo and shipped to prison with his remaining followers. Dahteste was as strong in her personal spirit as her warrior spirit, and she survived both tuberculosis and pneumonia while imprisoned. Both diseases killed untold thousands of Natives across the land, but not Dahteste.

After 8 years in the Florida prison, Dahteste was shipped to the military prison at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma. After 19 years at Ft. Sill, she was finally given permission to return to her homeland. She lived the balance of her life on the Mescalero Apache Reservation until she died there of old age.

   

Princess Leia? Guess again.

     No-talq Chiricahua – Apache 1886

Naiche (above, center) had three wives and fifteen children.

My daughters marvel at my “obsession” with Natives, yet one is majoring in Fashion and Design with an emphasis in eco-friendly attire. The best fashion designs *and* the most eco-friendly were launched here on the wild frontier. Another day, I might lament at the way Europeans marched in and “civilized” the greatest warrior-culture this continent had ever seen.

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