Western Wear Research Paper

452 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Fashion in a modern world

There is nothing more American than the cowboys and cowgirls of the old west. They symbolize American individualism, survival, and ruggedness. The cowboys and cowgirls were-and still are-rebels who spent their lives in the outdoors with their horses and cattle.

They lived their lives on their own terms and were experts in gun, horse, and cattle skills. Because of their special place in American history and culture, Americans love to wear cowboy and cowgirl western wear as a part of their own American identity.

Past Western Wear
In the past 60 years, western wear meant dressing up in full cowboy or cowgirl outfits with a costume-like theme. This fashion statement was especially big back in the 1950s when the western theme became a major part of the popular culture. …show more content…

It was also during this time that western movies became big hits with stars like John Wayne, Audie Murphy, and James Arness recreating the old west on the big screen. Even cartoons and kid shows picked up the western theme with characters like Howdy Doodie. It was also during this time that denim jeans became a part of everyone's wardrobe.

After the 50s, the western theme diminished, but the jeans and blue denim lived on as an American classic.

Today's Western Wear
Today, the western theme is back partly for its American ruggedness and partly out of American patriotism in supporting our troops around the world; but this time, the trend in both women's and men's fashion is to add a DASH of western flair instead of a whole wild west "costume".

In this way, men and women can show their "American pride and ruggedness" while still being fashion forward. Here are some examples of western flair...

For Women:
A long flowing dressy skirt and blouse with a western-style denim

Show More
Related

  • Hopi Female Clothing Research

    179 Words  | 1 Pages

    One of the things I found was The clothes worn by the men included loincloths or short kilts which were made from a long rectangular piece of animal skin or cloth which was worn between the legs and tucked over a belt. The men started to wear cotton shirts and shorts, and a headband They wore moccasins made of soft leather. The type of clothes worn by the women of the Hopi tribe were cotton dresses called mantas which were fastened at a woman's right shoulder, leaving her left shoulder bare. Early women’s clothes included a dark blue woollen blanket that was fastened above the right shoulder and tied with a belt at the waist. When Hopi girls reach womanhood, their hair was dressed in two large whorls at the side of the head in a squash blossom.

    Read More

  • Imagery In Cormac Mccarthy's All The Pretty Horses

    852 Words  | 2 Pages

    "Relocating the Cowboy: American Privilege in "All the Pretty Horses"" Pepperdine University: Global Tides Seaver Journal of Arts and Sciences. Maia Y. Rodriguez, 2014. Web. 2 May 2016. . The Western typically illustrates the journey of a man, usually a horse riding cowboy, into the Western frontier where he must conquer nature "in the name of civilization or [confiscate] the territorial rights of the original inhabitants... Native Americans" (Newman 150). What this brand of mythology promotes is precisely the values of American culture: rugged individualism, achievement and success, activtity and work, democracy and enterprise, and--most importantly--

    Read More

  • Bound Feet And Western Dress

    904 Words  | 2 Pages

    Traditions in Chinese culture are long-rooted and are taken very seriously from generation to generation. However, there must always be room for modern change in order for society to grow and strive across the globe. In Bound Feet and Western Dress the conflict between Chinese traditions and modern change arises. With this conflict it is important to discuss the different meanings of liberation for men and women and they way in which Chang Yu-I was able to obtain liberation throughout her life.

    Read More

  • Events Of The Year 1954

    1750 Words  | 4 Pages

    New fashions were surfacing in both men’s and women’s fashions. Men were wearing Bermuda pants, baggy pants that were cut off at the knee, while women were wearing capris, tight pants that cut off just below the knee. Men were wearing tailored jackets and making a slight move towards the casual dress of today’s workplace. Women were wearing natural shoulders as opposed to the heavily padded ones of the war years. Flat, neck-hugging collars replaced the mannish collars of the late 1940’s. Waists were tightly fitted and skirts were long (Melinkoff 46). The jeans of the time were often lined with plaid flanel and dungarees were worn to the most casual occasions. The sandals of the fifties were not much different than the sandals of today.

    Read More

  • The Cowboy Image

    2208 Words  | 5 Pages

    The image of the cowboy as Jennifer Moskowitz notes in her article “The Cultural Myth of the Cowboy, or, How the West was Won” is “uniquely

    Read More

  • The Invisible Black Cowboys

    3835 Words  | 8 Pages

    For many Americans, the image of the cowboy evokes pleasant nostalgia of a time gone by, when cowboys roamed free. The Cowboy is, to many Americans, the ideal American, who was quick to the draw, well skilled in his profession, and yet minded his own business. Regardless of whether the mental picture that the word cowboy evokes is a correct or incorrect view of the vocation, one seldom views cowboys as being black. The first cowboy I met was from Texas and was black. After he told me that he was a cowboy, I told him that he had to be kidding. Unfortunately, I was not totally to blame for my inability to recognize that color has nothing to do with the cowboy profession; most if not all popular famous images of cowboys are white. In general, even today, blacks are excluded from the popular depiction of famous Westerners. Black cowboys were unheard of for almost a century after they made their mark on the cattle herding trade, not because they were insignificant, but because history fell victim to prejudice, and forgot peoples of color in popular depictions of the West and Western history.

    Read More

  • The Good The Bad And The Ugly

    1767 Words  | 4 Pages

    Western films are the major defining genre of the American film industry, a eulogy to the early days of the expansive American frontier. They are one of the oldest, most enduring and flexible genres and one of the most characteristically American genres in their mythic origins - they focus on the West - in North America. Western films have also been called the horse opera, the oater (quickly-made, short western films which became as common place as oats for horses), or the cowboy picture. The western film genre has portrayed much about America's past, glorifying the past-fading values and aspirations of the mythical by-gone age of the West. Over time, westerns have been re-defined, re-invented and expanded, dismissed, re-discovered, and spoofed. But, most western movies ideas derived from characteristics known to the Native Americans and Mexicans way before the American culture knew about it. What you probably know as a good old western American movie originated from a culture knows as vaqueros (cowboys for Spanish). They are many misrepresentations of cultures and races shown throughout movies from as early as 1920's with silent films. Although one could argue that silent film era was more politically correct then now a day films, the movie industry should not have the right of misrepresenting cultures of Mexicans, Indians and there life styles in films known as western films.

    Read More

  • Stereotypes In 'Little House On The Prairie'

    1873 Words  | 4 Pages

    advertisement for the television show, now on DVD, and is obviously supposed to make you want to buy the DVD version. The clothing the characters wear is a major example of this. Styles such as bonnets, aprons, cowboy hats, and suspenders were all in the video. Society seems to have painted this picture that, no matter the exact time period, females in history always wore bonnets and aprons. This is interesting, because while mainly true, this is also a major stereotype that people seem to imagine.

    Read More

  • Characteristics of a Typical Western

    506 Words  | 2 Pages

    A typical Western would usually be set in the late 19th century in the mid-west of America in a remote town. The town is usually small, lonely and unwelcoming. Typically a western set looks like it is in the middle of a desert with sand, cacti and tumbleweed which gives a desert look, there are usually never any lakes or rivers around these features make the place look really hot and deserted. The buildings are generally timber board houses with swinging doors and outside the buildings are places to keep their horses, there is also always a General Store and a Saloon. Horses and carriages and cattle are used to give a western feel. The cowboys are typically dressed in western style clothing for example they wear simple shirts and jeans they may also wear ponchos, waist coats, hats, boots with spurs, guns and a belt to hold the gun and bullets, Hero's tend to wear lighter clothing and the villain’s tend to wear darker clothing.

    Read More

  • The American West

    1215 Words  | 3 Pages

    The cowboys of the frontier have long captured the imagination of the American public. Americans, faced with the reality of an increasingly industrialized society, love the image of a man living out in the wilderness fending for himself against the dangers of the unknown. By the end of the 19th century there were few renegade Indians left in the country and the vast expanse of open land to the west of the Mississippi was rapidly filling with settlers.

    Read More

  • Clothes by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

    939 Words  | 2 Pages

    The short story “Clothes” by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is about a young Indian woman, Sumita, and her cultural transition to America that is symbolized by her clothes and the color of her clothes. The traditional Indian attire for a woman is a sari and each one has its own purpose. Her clothes also indicate her progression from daughter, to wife, to woman.

    Read More

  • Renaissance Influence on Modern Day Fashion

    1352 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Renaissance time period could be considered one of the most artistic eras of all time. Both men and women were encouraged to make a transition from the medieval time period to the Renaissance time period. This was done largely in part by their style of clothing and the way they expressed themselves. Some fashionable trends for the women of the Renaissance time period include corsets, layers, ruffled collars, and closely fitted gowns called cotes. “Corsets like the merry widow were necessary for parties, dances, and other formal occasions” (Hoobler 98). Unmarried girls, brides, and queens of the time were allowed to wear their hair down, while most other women were to wear tall cone-shaped hats called hennin. The men of the renaissance era typically wore their ...

    Read More

  • Fashion History

    1358 Words  | 3 Pages

    middle of paper ... ... It also analyzed the influences of modern dresses. As Palmer and Clark (2005) mentioned earlier, both decades are the classic era in fashion history.

    Read More

  • Fashion is an Art

    1515 Words  | 4 Pages

    Clothing has been around for thousands of years; almost as long as the modern human has. At first, it served the practical purpose of protection from the elements; but, as life for early humans stopped being a constant struggle to survive, they started noticing how they looked and the concept of fashion began to take shape. These first few garments were typically dyed draped cloth that was pinned at the shoulder and/or waist. This was seen in many ancient civilizations around the world, Greek and Roman the most notable. Over time, clothing began to get more and more complex and formed to the body’s shape, eventually leading up to the tailored style we now have today. However, the sophisticated world of Haute Couture; or high fashion, can distinctly trace its roots to Paris during the mid-19th century. Clothing from there was thought to be superior to those from anywhere else, and women began to come from all over Europe just to buy dresses. This was probably due in part to one notable dressm...

    Read More

  • The Relationship Between Fashion and Lifestyle

    1735 Words  | 4 Pages

    From a historic point of view, Western travelers had remarked on the slow pace of lifestyle and fashion change in Turkey and Persia. On the other hand, many people were of the opinion that the western culture is getting out of hand in terms of dressing fashion (Cumming 234). In most cases, change of fashion and dressing style took place hand in hand with economic and social changes. In the developing world, changes in fashion began with the coming of the whites in Middle East. Changes began in the 11th century when the Turks came to central Asia and Far East. In Europe, continuous change in clothing fashion is believed to have started in middle 14th century. It started by a sudden introduction of shortening and tightening of male garments, it further brought the introduction of trousers and leggings that were worn by men (Cumming 235). After the advent of change in men fashion, it was followed by changes in female c...

    Read More

More about Western Wear Research Paper

Open Document