By the time the first photographers arrived, the People were generally wearing cotton and leather clothing. The original everyday clothing of Native Nevadans was made from local plant materials such as tule, cattail leaves, or sagebrush bark. The People also used the woven fur of rabbits and other animals as coats and blankets to keep warm.

Traditional Great Basin ceremonial clothing, or regalia, as it is called, remained in use long enough to become the subject of Nevada's early photographers. The ceremonial regalia for men included a "kilt" of twisted eagle down and a headdress of feathers from the eagle, magpie, or other birds. Such regalia helped the dancers and medicine people in their quest for spiritual power. The early Great Basin and California headdress was a vertical crown, entirely unlike the Plains war bonnet that would eventually be worn by many Nevada Native Americans for public events.