I wore riding breeches long ago and felt like I was in really tight long johns. Other stuff went with them at shows. I have worn great boots, both western and english. They both have their purpose. I have a great hat that I love. I wear it when we will be in need of being seen in a crowd, mostly by my hubby who gets lost sometimes. He wears a red baseball cap. Cuz he gets lost sometimes. Mostly I wear gear for practical purposes, not to make a statement. Like to keep my foot from slipping through a stirrup or to help get it into a stirrup. (only capable of lead line, now) Or to keep from being skinned by weeds. Sometimes I get noticed. Not usually the plan.
I have to laugh how you always throw out names and speak for people you have never met or met briefly to have your photo taken with. You have no idea if they would take offense to their western dressing being called a costume. They would laugh and make a joke about it, in my opinion based on my lifelong experience with cowboys. Not a single one of them would ever have to tell everyone on a forum, how they dressed when going to hall of fame inductions, livestock auctions, pancake houses, rodeos, or shopping. They don't dress western for attention or to be recognized as a cowboy or cowgirl, but rather because that is the way they have always dressed. Not all cowboys or cowgirls, dress western. Western wear is a big money business. If they depended on real working ranch folks or rodeo performers, they would go broke quickly. Selling to rodeo fans and those that admire the stereotypical cowboy, is where the money is. Models that have no connection to the cowboy lifestyle and no interest whatever in it, are paid big money to model western clothes and pose by horses or corrals. Western wear is such big business, that most former USA manufactures have taken their business to China to maximize profits. Whether the way one dresses is a uniform, a costume, or just a way they have always dressed, doesn't define a person. Works, accomplishments, experience, I.E. our history, and also our present, is what defines us all. It has been said, the way we dress if a reflection of who we are or says something about us. Since we spend a third of our life in bed, I wonder if bed clothes, figure into that? How about in retirement where more comfortable clothes like sweats or stretch pants and long loose fitting tops, replace the outfits we once wore? What does that say? What say you, do clothes define us, at least in part?
Ok, Faye, you really have no idea who we've met and/or talked to in the world of PRCA rodeo. It wasn't just for a photo either. As far as dressing western goes, I was a member of PRCA and they have rules about what a contestant can/can't wear in the arena. You do know that right? Actually, we met Joe Beaver (World Champion Tie-Down and Hall of Fame) at Cowboy Christmas in Vegas. He was wearing tennis shoes, a t-shirt and a baseball cap. I recognized him immediately, but he told wife and I that nobody else had, because of what he was wearing. I saw Blair Burk (Tie-Down) in a restaurant in New Mexico. He was wearing a baseball cap and t-shirt as well. I still recognized him. You know, and have met, different rodeo/ranch folks and that's fine. But, don't put wife and I down for stating who we have met, talked to and got a photo with. We are extremely proud of the photos we have of us with PRCA World Champions and of Miss Rodeo America. We put frame some of these pictures and display on our walls. So, whatever you think of western wear, that's entirely up to you. What I do know is that I'm a former PRCA cowboy/Team Roper and have photos and some old Classic ropes (that I used) to prove it. One thing for sure, young ladies love to wear cut-off shorts, low-cut top, fancy boots and a cowboy hat at a rodeo. As for us, it will always be true western attire, not the fancy stuff.
Cody, I am not putting you or your WIFE (that I know nothing about or I have ever mentioned) down. Just repeating what you have told us in previous post and elsewhere on the internet. Let's not turn a good discussion into an unnecessary dust up. I didn't post this about you, but rather in general. I have enjoyed all the responses whether they agreed with my observations in life or not. You actually made my point with your Joe Beaver story. It interest me how seniors see others and if they draw conclusions about that person based on the clothes they are wearing.
Ok. You are right about Joe Beaver. He didn't look like what he does in the arena and wasn't recognized, except by me. Guess that would go for any athlete or celebrity. Take them out of the area that the public recognizes them in, put different clothes on them and some will recognize them, while many won't.
As I've said in other posts, I was involved in the antiwar movement during and after high school. I even voted for McGovern and spent a year and a half hitchhiking around the country. During that time, I carried a light backpack that included only a pair of short pants and a teeshirt to wear while washing my other clothes, as well as some bedding in the event that I had to sleep outdoors. My pants were bellbottoms, the bell part of which I made myself out of a cut-up flag. Yeah, a lot of that stuff I wouldn't do anymore but that was then, and it's only a prelude to my point. While the bellbottoms were perhaps a bit pretentious, they did impress people from time to time, but my pants had patches because they were covering up holes, and they were faded because I wore them continuously except for washings. Sometime later, people were buying pre-made bellbottoms and beating them on rocks or washing them in bleach to fade them, and, still later, they could buy them pre-washed and pre-faded, even with fake holes. That was a costume.
@Denise Evans This is as good a thread as any to discuss western jeans. Stacking simply means wearing a longer length inseam so when standing the bottoms are bunched or stacked up on your boot shafts, but when riding they look smooth since that position pulls up the legs. No one would want their jeans pulling up to high on their boots. Stacking requires a full straight leg jean. I never had good luck with bootleg jeans over tall shaft boots. Stacking was commonly seen in older rodeo. Now with skinny jeans taking over, gals just tuck them in their boots and problem solved. They can show off fancy boot shafts and still wear full length jeans. I always liked wearing jean shorts for dancing, because I wore my high heel high shaft handmade boots with colorful special design shafts, and it didn't make sense to hide them under denim. I have jeans, all USA made and vintage, in 30, 31, and 32 inch inseams. The 32" would work great for riding, but I don't do that anymore due to balance. If I were to go dancing again, I would wear my 30" Levi slim fit, tapered leg, mom jeans, since they would go easily into my boot shafts. I don't do high shaft boots anymore. No need since they were once a work tool, a uniform, to protect against rattlesnake strikes and give work leg protection. They are too hard to get off. Now my jeans and boots constitute a costume if I go to fair, rodeo, or cowboy breakfast. If I wear cut off jean shorts and short tops these days, it would be a western costume if worn with boots or booties and a gardening uniform if worn with sandals.
First, what's happened to Faye Fox??? Either she hasn't been posting/replying or I haven't seen where she has. Anyway, I pulled out two plastic orange-colored bins (color for Halloween) out of our Storage that contain costume parts for my Darth Vader costume and my wife's Female Stormtrooper costume. We found one Halloween Costume Party going on the 26th of this month at a college down the street from us. Everyone is welcome and costs nothing. Part of both costumes are hanging up in our closet. But, first, and foremost, have to try on the complete costumes to make sure we can still wear them. Haven't worn them in the last 4 1/2 years or so. Also have to make sure we have enough Lithium batteries for my costume. My chest-box, belt and Light Saber all use batteries. Will see what happens.
Be sure and take pictures for us, @Cody Fousnaugh ! Glad that you found a costume party nearby so you guys can go and have fun.
That sucks. We had a Virginia-based chain called Country Cookin' that also went away. It was odd...the server would take your order for your drink and main dish/potato (fried, baked, etc), and the soup, salad & sides were all-you-can-eat buffet style. I knew I had officially become a "senior" when I would order a full meal, just have the buffet's soup/salad/whatever for that meal, and take the entrée home for another meal. It was the highlight of my week. But it made tipping weird because it was a hybrid Table Service/Self-Serve. Regarding the topic: the staff wore uniforms.
My hubby liked Golden Corral but I was a bit put off. They did not pay employees well and who knows how the kitchen staff felt as far as cleanliness went? The food always looked good but if it was so cheap, where did it come from and how? And sometimes the patrons did not look like they all washed their hands regularly as they threw the serving utensils around. Don't get me started on kids at the desert areas!