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Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Dress like a Cowboy


What's in Your Fifth Pocket?
That little pocket on your jeans. How often have you wondered what the heck it's for? If you're like me you thought that pocket was to store your emergency quarter in the event you got in trouble and needed to phone home--back in the day before cell phones. Turns out this pocket is called the watch pocket. When Jacob Davis and Levi Strauss patented the design for jeans in 1873 with miners in mind, they included a handy place to keep a size 16 pocket watch. They also put in rivets at stress points so heavy tools didn't ruin the pants. Even today the belt loops are spaced to take the watch clip. This style of pants designed for miners was quickly picked up by ranchers. Why dark blue? The color does the best job hiding dirt.

Learning I've been walking around with a watch pocket for decades made me wonder what other vestiges of bygone days are hidden in my wardrobe. It also got me curious about western wear in general. I did a little research on some of the mainstays of this fashion and discovered it's a marriage of function and style, which has not only lent much to the fashion of future generations of non-cowboys, but it's also a style with an interesting history.

If western wear had a family tree, it's roots would originate with the cattle herders of 12th c Spain, the old Castille region to be specific. Low-crowned, wide-brimmed hats, spurred boots, tight pants, bolero jackets, and a sash were the herders costume.



Vaquero in Spanish California, 1830's
When the practice of cattle herding moved to the new world, the costume changed to adapt to new landscapes. In the American west slabs of cowhide were hung from the saddle to protect the rider's legs from brush and cactus--and so chaps were born. Chaps with the hair left on are called "woolies."


Chilling in his woolie chaps

Every piece of a cowboy's wardrobe has a function story as well as a style story. Because he had to travel light, articles of clothing had to prove its worth. Take for instance the bandanna. This square piece of cloth used to keep dust and sun off the neck can also be used as a potholder, a first aid item, ear muffs, a filter to strain the bugs and dirt out of your water, and if you're up to no good, a disguise. Bandanna comes from the Hindi word bandhnu, meaning a tied cloth. Martha Washington, our first, first lady introduced the bandanna to America when she commissioned one to be made with the image of her husband on horseback, starting a popular souvenir trend. The most recognizable bandanna pattern which is still made today is a paisley design from Kashmir called by cowboys, the "Persian Pickle". The paisley pattern comes in every color under the sun, but red is probably the most popular.


The "Persian Pickle" pattern

The cowboy shirt as we know it today with its pearl snaps, pocket flaps, and triangular yoke was largely the design of tailor Jack Weil in the 1940's. Seeing that cowboys often function one-handed, Weil came up with the brainstorm of using snaps instead buttons (what a cowboy is doing with one hand while he needs to rip his shirt off in a hurry, I do not know). He reinforced the parts of the shirt that take the most strain by adding the distinctive yoke. He put flaps on the pockets so all your hoofs picks and what have you don't fall out when you bend over. We can also thank Weil for making the shirts form-fitting to prevent them from getting caught on things. Thank you, Mr. Weil.

The western style shirt has some interesting antecedents. As well as having roots in the vaquero tradition, the cowboy shirt gives a nod to Civil War uniforms. The bib or shield front, which I associate with John Wayne, comes from a Union battle shirt designed by Custer, who in turn borrowed the design from early firefighters.



The Duke in a Bib or Shield Front Shirt 

And from the other side of the Mason Dixon line comes some of the more flamboyant features of the cowboy shirt. The fancy piping, contrasting yokes, ruffles, plaids, and decorative embroidery draw from the Confederate battle shirt. Yes, that's right. I was surprised by that too, but after spelunking into the depths of the Pinterest caves for a good part of the afternoon, I saw some amazing designs. Apparently, the ladies who made the shirts for their loved ones going off to fight, sent them off in style.


"Bloody Bill" Anderson in his Conferderate Battle Shirt


In the early days, western headgear was no different than what folks covered their heads with elsewhere in the country. Picture the cowboy in a bowler hat. Then in 1870 John Stetson moved to the west for his health. He noticed the wide-brimmed Spanish style hats worn in the area and fashioned a hat for himself, which again was based in part on the Union Calvary's blue kepi. When a cowboy admired Stetson's hat, he sold it to him for $5. Hello cowboys in Stetsons!


Stetson Hat Advertisement

Like other items in the cowboy's wardrobe, the Stetson isn't just for looks. The hat is multi-functional. The wide brim afforded protection from rain, sun, and snow. The high crown provides an air pocket that helps insulate the head in cold weather, and in hot weather the hat can be soaked in water to cool the hot cowboy. The v-shaped dip in front of the brim shields the eyes when riding into direct sunlight at certain times of the day, while leaving vision clear either side of it. And in the days of limited means of communication, waving your big hat was a way to signal across vast spaces. Stetsons are made of such a tight weave they can be used as a bucket as in the ad above.

And, finally, speaking of buckets, the term Ten Gallon Hat doesn't have anything to do with how much water a hat can hold. Can you imagine how large a hat that holds ten gallons would be? Try walking around with ten jugs of milk stacked on your head. The term probably comes from the corruption of the Spanish phrase tan galán, meaning something like "so handsome". Or more likely the name comes from the braids on Spanish-style called galóns. A hat with a brim wide enough for ten braids was a ten galón hat.

P.S., I'm not forgetting cowboy boots and belt buckles. I'm deliberately avoiding them for the moment.

19 comments:

  1. I'd noticed the word 'jeans' when I came across it in books and wondered if that was what Mr. Strauss had labeled them at the time. Great information, Sherri. This helps a lot when we want to dress our cowboys. I look forward to your next post on cowboy dresss. Thanks for posting.

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  2. Hi, Agnes. I've paused at putting my older, historical cowboys in jeans too. Western wear is unique and we take it for granted that it's always been thus, but it does have an interesting evolution and melding of cultures.Thanks for stopping by!

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  3. Very interesting, Patti. A few of these I didn't know. I usually avoid jeans in my historicals too. But since there were no belts, most men had to wear suspenders. Sometimes it's just easier to say "he got up and dressed himself." Haha.

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  4. Exactly! "He got up and dressed himself." LOL! Nothing romantic about a cowboy in wool trousers and a bowler hat, but that's probably what you'd really see back in the day. Thanks for stopping by!

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  5. I thought that little pocket on jeans was for a house key. I can see the practicality of a place for a pocket watch back then.

    I think the most practical part of cowboy dress, other than those weird chaps, is the bandanna. I don't know how many of you have ever been in Girl Scouts or Boy Scouts, but bandannas were part of the uniforms and for good reason. They were used for so many things that even included emergency medical care like splints and tourniquets. I can clearly understand why cowboys would want them as part of their dress and equipment.

    This was certainly an interesting post, Patti. I look forward to your next one.

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  6. Your house key! LOL. It's funny how we're still using that little pocket and not many people running around with pocket watches anymore. I ran across an article about the original uses of some of our everyday items and that's where I learned about the 5th pocket, which is what inspired this post. Thanks for stopping by Sarah!

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  7. Love the history of clothing and why it was made the way it was. Personally, I love my Stetson and boy does it wear well. I've battered and beaten the poor thing and it still looks good.

    It makes sense when you had to 'travel light' that clothing would have to have more than one funtion. Some of those you mentioned I hadn't really thought of. Thanks Doris

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  8. I try to avoid letting Levi's or "jeans" slip by in whatever I'm editing. I will try to find another way--sometimes "denims" or just pants...it's HARD. LOL I love this post of yours, Patti. I didn't get to wear jeans much growing up. Wore a LOT of corduroy pants back in the day. I loved those! LOL We weren't allowed to wear jeans to school--the girls wore dresses! And in the winter we could wear pants, but most wore something other than jeans. Then when we got to jr. high and high school, that was the height of blue jean fashion years (the 70's) and our very conservative small-town OK school district would not allow girls to wear jeans of any kind. In fact we couldn't even wear PANTS. We had to wear dresses and they could be no more than 5 inches above the knee. That was one thing we worked on in student council, to try and get that changed, and we did, but it was sllllowwww. LOL I remember begging for jeans and getting 2 pair (grudgingly) that Mom let me have for high school days. Not to wear to school, but for other times. LOL Boy, how times have changed.

    I love knowing why they call it a ten-gallon hat--I never knew that! This really is an interesting post--enjoyed it very much, Patti!

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    1. Thanks, Cheryl! I remember the days girls couldn't wear pants to school too! You have to wonder how that affected our behavior because it does restrict your behavior. Like I remember in jr high the boys would stand at the bottom of the stairs, watching us walk up the stairs to see our underwear is one example! I wore a lot of cords too and my mom even made pants for us on her sewing machine. Then bell bottoms came in and my parents wouldn't let me wear those! I remember hiding in the school bathroom, trying to stretch out the bottoms of my pants to look more like flairs! Jeez! Clothes do make the man/woman. Thanks for stopping by, Cheryl.

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    2. Since levis and jeans were around from the mid 1870's, I don't hesitate to use that term in westerns that take place in that era. Otherwise, I try to use trousers or pants. It's like the westerns on TV though, that we all grew up watching. There wouldn't have been much of an audience if Johnny Madrid, Tom Slaughter, or John Wayne had walked around in round toed boots that could go on either foot, the god-awful checked shirts, or those hairy chaps (which, by the way, collected both fleas and ticks). Let's face it, ladies. We like seeing our cowboy heroes in those tight fitting twills, form fitting shirts and a good pair of boots with spurs.

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    3. So true, Kit. Writing historical stories we do walk a line between accuracy and appealing. I always hesitate to use a word or phrase that will draw a reader out of the story by questioning the accuracy of it.

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  9. Hi, Patti, loved your post. Learned a lot of great information. Didn't know what they called John Wayne's shirt or why, always knew it was distinctive.
    I tend to avoid using jeans in historicals also, but you can use denim or cords. It's a bit better than woolies, ugh!

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    1. Can you imagine wearing not only woolies, but wool pants in that heat?! And the layers of clothes the women had to wear. Ugh! I sometimes look at the photos of early mountaineers in their "winter" clothes or the ladies in dresses, and think "that's what you're going to wear to climb Mt Everest?" We certainly are better about matching clothes to weather and climate now. Thanks for stopping by Hebby!

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  10. Just for all the historical writers here afraid of using the words 'blue jeans', according to the etymological dictionary, blue jean as a fabric was in use from 1848 and as a reference to pants made of same, from 1878.

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    1. Thanks, Andi! I'm making note of that for future reference. Thanks for stopping by. It's always good to see you.

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  11. That was not only sparklingly fascinating, you left me with the mental image of a cowboy ripping off his shirt with one hand. What more could a girl want?

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  12. May the image stay with you! I read that Jack Weil got the idea of snaps instead of buttons after seeing a Chinese tailor do it except the snaps he used wouldn't hold up in everyday cowboy use. It's said he became so obsessed with the idea of snaps on cowboy shirts he couldn't sleep at night. I think we all know that feeling. Thanks for stopping by!

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  13. Patty,

    I have my granddad's pair of woolie chaps, but they are packed away where it's not easy to get to them, or I'd take a picture and share it. I'll put it on my to-do list. *grin*. The chaps are gawdawful heavy and cumbersome, and the wool was originally bright orange, but has faded over the years. As a kid, I thought they were great to put on and parade around it (or drag my feet and shuffle around in). lol

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  14. That's amazing, Kaye! I'd love to see those. I did see a pair in a museum in Cody, WY. Unpack those things and frame them!!How cool would that be?

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