Some days he wears ribbon shirts, some days he wears ribbon skirts. But no matter the day, he ‘slays.’
Geronimo Louie has found fame in being unapologetically himself: a warrior that’s not afraid to embrace his feminine side, or his masculine side.
The fashion designer-actor-influencer grew up in Gallup, New Mexico, the middle child of sisters. He is Diné and Chiricahua Apache. He is born for Honágháahnii, his maternal grandfather is Honágháahnii and his paternal grandfather is Tódich’ii’nii.
He always had a passion for fashion, watching his grandma sew traditional clothes by hand for his sisters. In middle school home economics, he learned to use the sewing machine.
“I put those two resources together, just found my way about it,” Louie said.
Today, he creates Sáanii scarf dresses and corsets, ribbon skirts, silk Fancy Dance shawls and getups, sheer robes, blouses and lingerie, two-piece suits with tribal print vests, and a plethora of costumes and looks that he flaunts for his thousands of followers on Tiktok and Instagram.
“I just started posting what I was making during the pandemic. I had a lot of time at home and I really wanted to sit down and actually create clothes,” Louie said. “The pandemic really opened up this time for me to sit down and reflect and design and just overall create garments that I wanted to wear around the house. But, you know, what better way to share that beauty then with your followers and the world? So I started taking pictures of myself and posting them.”
Along with the photos and videos, Louie voices what he cares about: The differences between his people’s spirituality and colonial religion, Indigenous representation, gender fluidity, K’é and life.
As his followers amassed, opportunities arose, with writers from Vogue and casting directors from Disney literally sliding into his DM’s.
“This whole thing was so unexpected…the closest thing I had to a foreshadowing of this part of my life was getting most photogenic in my yearbook but it would never had led me to think that I could pursue something in social media today,” Louie said. “Just the work that Tik Tok has put into the creators themselves has really opened up opportunities for people like me to succeed in those spaces of creativity, film and different opportunities like sponsorships and things like that.”
The Vogue interview came about when style writer Christian Allaire followed him and reached out to say he loved his traditional designs and ribbon work.
“He’s from the Ojibwe tribe so ribbon skirts and ribbon work originates from his tribe, so I mean it was a really big honor to have someone from that tribe recognize my work,” Louie said. “He was like, ‘I want to write a story about you and your designs’ and I was like, ‘this is crazy!’ I’m still shocked that I have an article in Vogue…that really opened up more possibilities for me to grow as a designer and continue to be inspired ‘til this day.”
The article came out in March 2021. After that, a casting director looking to cast roles in the second season of Disney’s live-action shorts collection, “Launchpad,” reached out. She was looking for someone to play the lead in “The Roof,” about a two-spirited grandchild connecting with their estranged grandfather, of Northern Cheyenne descent.
“I was just being myself on the internet, you know, posting my true identity of being two spirit, in my culture called nádleeh,” Louie said. “I’m very prominent as far as being associated with that term and being an advocate for that. I’m part of small organizations and nonprofits upholding the present two-spirit individuals within the Navajo nation. And so I got this DM on Instagram again and it was a lady, and she was like, ‘Hey I saw your (posts), I’d really like to be in touch with you, I’m a casting director casting for a two-spirit identity movie with Disney.”
Louie didn’t believe it at first, but ended up messaging her back and auditioning in California. Although the main role of Ray ended up going to seasoned Anishinaabe actor Phoenix Wilson, Louie ended up being a Fancy Shawl dancer in the powwow scene.
“They had an actual drumming group there that was going to perform for us so that we could do our dance, and before anything had happened, I asked (the casting director), ‘do you think they should pray for the grounds?’ which is usually what happens within a powwow ceremony, we pray for the grounds, we pray for the dancers, we pray that this will be a good ceremony … these protocols should be taken with any kind of powwow.”
The writer okayed Louie’s idea, and was happy to add the bit of authenticity.
“Good thing we had tobacco on set as a gift, so we had tobacco sweet grounds and (the drummer) took that and he prayed for it and everything went so smoothly after that,” Louie said.
Louie attended the premiere, wearing a white silk shawl with rainbow ribbons over his tux, and posted to his followers how in disbelief he was, saying he felt like a true Indigenous Two-Spirit Disney princess.
Embracing two spirit
Louie said he believes he was born two spirit, which he explained as an umbrella term that was coined in the 90s, that many different tribes use to simplify the male and female gender identities.
“I didn’t know the term ‘two spirit’ until when the pandemic hit. It’s crazy that it was only a few years ago that I learned the term,” Louie said. “I am a male bodied person, and I take on roles that are both male and female at any given time. I’ve had my moments where I’m very strong and masculine and I’m a leader and a warrior, and then I have my other moments that are calm, very feminine, very understanding, very empathetic to others.”
Louie said he carries out traditional feminine roles like cooking, cleaning, and even helping other women in ceremonies.
“I have femininity running through my veins. I have masculinity running through my body and my mind. Both entwine with each other so beautifully and intricately that I can express one in the other at any given moment,” he said.
Louie said he’s been flamboyant his whole life, and always enjoyed watching his mother get ready and things of that nature, but tried to hide it as a child.
“Little Geronimo didn’t know (the beauty of being two spirit), he was just like, ‘I’m kinda weird, I like things that other little boys don’t like, I should just try and keep it to myself.’ I tried to keep it to myself but my actions proved me wrong because I was always just slaying every day, I was just me,” he said.
Growing up with many women in his household, it was hard to not get caught up in the feminine energy, Louie added.
“There’s nothing really controversial about that either,” he said. “In the Indian communities and POC communities, femininity and masculinity go hand-in-hand in our day-to-day life, so picking up on that was nothing new to me, it was just more of inspiration. Makeup and jewelry and clothes are just things you use to express yourself more vibrantly and to let the world know how you feel and what you’re about.”
Louie said his family is supportive of his identity now, but it wasn’t a totally smooth road.
“Every person that is on the LGBQT+ spectrum has endured some kind of homophobia — just some initial hesitance to express themselves because it’s a hard thing to do, it’s a hard thing to come out to a society where the norm is heterosexuality,” Louie said. “It’s hard still, even to this day as much as we have inclusivity, it can be a struggle for people to come out. And I have gone through battles with that with my family, you know, but we’ve overcome that. And now I get looks from my mom and she’s like, ‘I love your hair today, it’s so beautiful.’”
Louie said there is beauty in standing your ground and expressing yourself confidently.
“Having fear and overcoming that, and becoming fearless is the strongest thing you could ever do and the more that people see you be truly who you are, the more minds you change.”
Alongside his work, Louie graduated from the University of New Mexico in 2022 with an associate’s degree in liberal arts.
Follow Louie at tiktok.com/@geronimo.warrior and instagram.com/geronimo.louie.
Some days he wears ribbon shirts, some days he wears ribbon skirts. But no matter the day, he ‘slays.’
Geronimo Louie has found fame in being unapologetically himself: a warrior that’s not afraid to embrace his feminine side, or his masculine side.
The fashion designer-actor-influencer grew up in Gallup, New Mexico, the middle child of sisters. He is Diné and Chiricahua Apache. He is born for Honágháahnii, his maternal grandfather is Honágháahnii and his paternal grandfather is Tódich’ii’nii.
He always had a passion for fashion, watching his grandma sew traditional clothes by hand for his sisters. In middle school home economics, he learned to use the sewing machine.
“I put those two resources together, just found my way about it,” Louie said.
Today, he creates Sáanii scarf dresses and corsets, ribbon skirts, silk Fancy Dance shawls and getups, sheer robes, blouses and lingerie, two-piece suits with tribal print vests, and a plethora of costumes and looks that he flaunts for his thousands of followers on Tiktok and Instagram.
“I just started posting what I was making during the pandemic. I had a lot of time at home and I really wanted to sit down and actually create clothes,” Louie said. “The pandemic really opened up this time for me to sit down and reflect and design and just overall create garments that I wanted to wear around the house. But, you know, what better way to share that beauty then with your followers and the world? So I started taking pictures of myself and posting them.”
Along with the photos and videos, Louie voices what he cares about: The differences between his people’s spirituality and colonial religion, Indigenous representation, gender fluidity, K’é and life.
As his followers amassed, opportunities arose, with writers from Vogue and casting directors from Disney literally sliding into his DM’s.
“This whole thing was so unexpected…the closest thing I had to a foreshadowing of this part of my life was getting most photogenic in my yearbook but it would never had led me to think that I could pursue something in social media today,” Louie said. “Just the work that Tik Tok has put into the creators themselves has really opened up opportunities for people like me to succeed in those spaces of creativity, film and different opportunities like sponsorships and things like that.”
The Vogue interview came about when style writer Christian Allaire followed him and reached out to say he loved his traditional designs and ribbon work.
“He’s from the Ojibwe tribe so ribbon skirts and ribbon work originates from his tribe, so I mean it was a really big honor to have someone from that tribe recognize my work,” Louie said. “He was like, ‘I want to write a story about you and your designs’ and I was like, ‘this is crazy!’ I’m still shocked that I have an article in Vogue…that really opened up more possibilities for me to grow as a designer and continue to be inspired ‘til this day.”
The article came out in March 2021. After that, a casting director looking to cast roles in the second season of Disney’s live-action shorts collection, “Launchpad,” reached out. She was looking for someone to play the lead in “The Roof,” about a two-spirited grandchild connecting with their estranged grandfather, of Northern Cheyenne descent.
“I was just being myself on the internet, you know, posting my true identity of being two spirit, in my culture called nádleeh,” Louie said. “I’m very prominent as far as being associated with that term and being an advocate for that. I’m part of small organizations and nonprofits upholding the present two-spirit individuals within the Navajo nation. And so I got this DM on Instagram again and it was a lady, and she was like, ‘Hey I saw your (posts), I’d really like to be in touch with you, I’m a casting director casting for a two-spirit identity movie with Disney.”
Louie didn’t believe it at first, but ended up messaging her back and auditioning in California. Although the main role of Ray ended up going to seasoned Anishinaabe actor Phoenix Wilson, Louie ended up being a Fancy Shawl dancer in the powwow scene.
“They had an actual drumming group there that was going to perform for us so that we could do our dance, and before anything had happened, I asked (the casting director), ‘do you think they should pray for the grounds?’ which is usually what happens within a powwow ceremony, we pray for the grounds, we pray for the dancers, we pray that this will be a good ceremony … these protocols should be taken with any kind of powwow.”
The writer okayed Louie’s idea, and was happy to add the bit of authenticity.
“Good thing we had tobacco on set as a gift, so we had tobacco sweet grounds and (the drummer) took that and he prayed for it and everything went so smoothly after that,” Louie said.
Louie attended the premiere, wearing a white silk shawl with rainbow ribbons over his tux, and posted to his followers how in disbelief he was, saying he felt like a true Indigenous Two-Spirit Disney princess.
Embracing two spirit
Louie said he believes he was born two spirit, which he explained as an umbrella term that was coined in the 90s, that many different tribes use to simplify the male and female gender identities.
“I didn’t know the term ‘two spirit’ until when the pandemic hit. It’s crazy that it was only a few years ago that I learned the term,” Louie said. “I am a male bodied person, and I take on roles that are both male and female at any given time. I’ve had my moments where I’m very strong and masculine and I’m a leader and a warrior, and then I have my other moments that are calm, very feminine, very understanding, very empathetic to others.”
Louie said he carries out traditional feminine roles like cooking, cleaning, and even helping other women in ceremonies.
“I have femininity running through my veins. I have masculinity running through my body and my mind. Both entwine with each other so beautifully and intricately that I can express one in the other at any given moment,” he said.
Louie said he’s been flamboyant his whole life, and always enjoyed watching his mother get ready and things of that nature, but tried to hide it as a child.
“Little Geronimo didn’t know (the beauty of being two spirit), he was just like, ‘I’m kinda weird, I like things that other little boys don’t like, I should just try and keep it to myself.’ I tried to keep it to myself but my actions proved me wrong because I was always just slaying every day, I was just me,” he said.
Growing up with many women in his household, it was hard to not get caught up in the feminine energy, Louie added.
“There’s nothing really controversial about that either,” he said. “In the Indian communities and POC communities, femininity and masculinity go hand-in-hand in our day-to-day life, so picking up on that was nothing new to me, it was just more of inspiration. Makeup and jewelry and clothes are just things you use to express yourself more vibrantly and to let the world know how you feel and what you’re about.”
Louie said his family is supportive of his identity now, but it wasn’t a totally smooth road.
“Every person that is on the LGBQT+ spectrum has endured some kind of homophobia — just some initial hesitance to express themselves because it’s a hard thing to do, it’s a hard thing to come out to a society where the norm is heterosexuality,” Louie said. “It’s hard still, even to this day as much as we have inclusivity, it can be a struggle for people to come out. And I have gone through battles with that with my family, you know, but we’ve overcome that. And now I get looks from my mom and she’s like, ‘I love your hair today, it’s so beautiful.’”
Louie said there is beauty in standing your ground and expressing yourself confidently.
“Having fear and overcoming that, and becoming fearless is the strongest thing you could ever do and the more that people see you be truly who you are, the more minds you change.”
Alongside his work, Louie graduated from the University of New Mexico in 2022 with an associate’s degree in liberal arts.
Follow Louie at tiktok.com/@geronimo.warrior and instagram.com/geronimo.louie.