Product Code Database
Western wear is a category of men's and women's clothing which derives its unique style from the clothes worn in the 19th century Wild West. It ranges from accurate historical reproductions of American frontier clothing, to the stylized garments popularized by Western film and television or such as Gene Autry and Roy Rogers in the 1940s and 1950s. It continues to be a fashion choice in the West and Southwestern United States, as well as people associated with country music or Western lifestyles, for example the various Western or Regional Mexican music styles. Western wear typically incorporates one or more of the following: Western shirts with Snap fastener and vaquero design accents, Jeans, cowboy hat, a leather belt, and .
Stampede strings were installed to prevent the hat from being blown off when riding at speed. These long strings were usually made from leather or horsehair. Typically, the string was run half-way around the crown of a Stetson, and then through a hole on each side with its ends knotted and then secured under the chin or around the back of the head keeping the hat in place in windy conditions or when riding a horse.
The tall white ten gallon hats traditionally worn by movie cowboys were of little use for the historical gunslinger as they made him an easy target, hence the preference of lawmen like Wild Bill Hickok, Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson for low-crowned black hats. at Nebraska State Historical Society
Originally part of the traditional Plains Indian clothing, were frequently worn by mountain men like Davy Crockett for their warmth and durability. These were revived in the 1950s following the release of a popular Disney movie starring Fess Parker. The Coonskin Cap Height of the Craze. 1957 Wales
A Western dress shirt is often elaborately decorated with piping, embroidered roses and a contrasting yoke. In the 1950s these were frequently worn by movie cowboys like Roy Rogers or Clayton Moore's Lone Ranger. Western Shirts Derived from the elaborate Mexican vaquero costumes like the guayabera, these were worn at rodeos so the cowboy could be easily identifiable. Buffalo Bill was known to wear them with a buckskin fringe jacket during his Wild West shows.
Another common type of Western shirt is the shield-front shirt (also called a bib shirt))worn by many US Cavalry troopers during the American Civil War but originally derived from a red shirt issued to prewar firefighters. The cavalry shirt was made of blue wool with yellow piping and brass buttons and was invented by the flamboyant George Armstrong Custer. Shield front shirts In recent times this shield-front shirt was popularised by John Wayne in Fort Apache and was also worn by rockabilly musicians like the Stray Cats.
In 1946, Papa Jack Weil put snap buttons on the front, and pocket flaps on the Western shirt, and established Denver's Rockmount Ranch Wear. Other early Western wear labels included California-based H Bar C, and Panhandle Slim, from Westmoor Manufacturing, which migrated from Minneapolis, to Omaha, and finally in 1975 to Fort Worth, Texas.
Western shirts have been a staple of the American West and fashionable with young men since the 1960s and 1970s. A GQ writer in 2012 noted "vintage washed out westerns from the '70s becoming coveted items."
For more formal occasions inhabitants of the West might opt for a suit with "smile" pockets, piping and a yoke similar to that on the Western shirts. This can take the form of an Ike jacket, leisure suit or three-button sportcoat. Country and Western singer Johnny Cash was known to wear an all-black Western suit, in contrast to the elaborate worn by stars like Elvis Presley and Porter Wagoner.Beard, Tyler (2001). 100 Years of Western Wear, p. 72. Gibbs Smith, Salt Lake City. . The most elaborate western wear is the custom work created by such as Nudie Cohn and Manuel Cuevas, which is characterized by elaborate embroidery and rhinestone decoration. This type of western wear, popularized by country music performers, is the origin of the phrase rhinestone cowboy.
Leather chaps were often worn to protect the cowboy's legs from cactus spines and prevent the fabric from wearing out. English schooling chaps . Web page accessed April 28, 2008 Two common types include the skintight shotgun chaps Cowboyway.com, explanation of chaps styles. Web page accessed March 10, 2008 and wide batwing chaps. The latter were sometimes made from hides retaining their hair (known as "woolies") rather than tanned leather. They appeared on the Great Plains somewhere around 1887. "Westerners: Wild and Wooly Chaps." Wild West Magazine, February 2007, The History Net. Web site accessed September 2, 2007
Women wore knee-length ,George-Warren, Holly, and Michelle Freedman: How the West Was Worn, p. 184-187. red or blue gingham dresses or suede fringed skirts derived from Native American dress. Saloon girls wore short red dresses with , and stockings.Waugh, Norah (December 1, 1990). Corsets and Crinolines. Routledge. . After World War II, many women, returning to the home after working in the fields or factories while the men were overseas, began to wear jeans like the men.
Another well-known Western accessory, the bolo tie, was a American pioneer invention reputedly made from an expensive hatband. Arte en la Charerria: The Artisanship of Mexican Equestrian Culture at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, Oklahoma City This was a favorite for and was quickly adopted by Mexican , together with the slim "Kentucky" style bowtie commonly seen on stereotypical Southern gentlemen like Colonel SandersPearce, John, The Colonel (1982) or Boss Hogg. In modern times it serves as formal wear in many western states, notably Montana, New Mexico and Texas.
|
|
