American National Clothing?

[bricelythgoe]

Well, I have come to the conclusion that there is no conclusion! Hehehe...

Brice

[Bugbear]

I don't know.

I did grow up around Southwestern cowboys, as well as, a few of theSouthwestern tribes. The same for the Hispanic and Mexican culture.

I'm not really a part of any of those cultures, and I know the cowboys, at least, can be defencive about outsiders wearing their clothing. Same for the others...

Perhaps jeans... but it all seems to have come from somewhere else or belong to someone else.

Would I get upset about someone wearing their own national garb with jeans?

No way! I'm sure it is done all the time. In fact I might even be a little honored by that.

I don't know what to make of it.

[DWFII]

I don't know.

I did grow up around Southwestern cowboys, as well as, a few of theSouthwestern tribes. The same for the Hispanic and Mexican culture.

I'm not really a part of any of those cultures, and I know the cowboys, at least, can be defencive about outsiders wearing their clothing. Same for the others...

Perhaps jeans... but it all seems to have come from somewhere else or belong to someone else.

Would I get upset about someone wearing their own national garb with jeans?

No way! I'm sure it is done all the time. In fact I might even be a little honored by that.

I don't know what to make of it.

I am not advocating for "cowboy attire" as the American National Clothing. But it is a rather unique costume...worn indigenously nowhere else in the world.

When you get right down to it...like so much else in our lives...everything comes from somewhere else, if you go back far enough.

[davedove]

The quintessential American clothing recognized world wide is of course the blue jean. It has been such a part of our history and growth for a very long time. It would be nice were we known for something a little more "dressy", but such is our lot in life. From one end of our great nation to the other everyone wears jeans at some point in their life. I do like the way our Olympic athletes dress when walking in at the parade of nations.

But the classic jean is such a good symbol of the basic "get to it and get it done" attitude of America. America was not built by the dressed up folks, but rather by the workers and settlers.

Well, I'm not going to argue the details but the quintessential piece of cowboy gear--the cowboy boot--actually has little or no connection with Mexican or even Spanish forerunners. The most direct lineage is Eastern Europe, Germany and England.

The classic design of the cowboy boot is actually very well thought out. The pointed toes made it easy to find the stirrup, while the heels kept the foot from passing completely through the stirrup, a very dangerous situation.

I am not advocating for "cowboy attire" as the American National Clothing. But it is a rather unique costume...worn indigenously nowhere else in the world.

When you get right down to it...like so much else in our lives...everything comes from somewhere else, if you go back far enough.

The western cowboy clothing is probably the closest we have to an Amercan costume. In the grand scheme, America is still a very young country, with immigrants from all over the world. If we were to have a national dress to symbolize that, it would probably have items from many other nations blended together.

[DWFII]

The classic design of the cowboy boot is actually very well thought out. The pointed toes made it easy to find the stirrup, while the heels kept the foot from passing completely through the stirrup, a very dangerous situation.

Just a quick factoid for your information...the first bona fide, recognizably "cowboy" boots (drover's boots) had wide round toes. In fact, during most of the 19th century, when horseback was the most common mode of travel, next to foot traffic, boot toes were either wide square (the old "coffin" toe) or wide round.

It wasn't until well into the 20th century when other modes of transportation were on the ascendancy (and stirrups were becoming wider and more fit for green-horns) that narrow pointed toes made their appearance.

There is a case to be made for pointed toes evolving to accommodate stirrups but the better case is probably that they were a response to fashion.

[vmac3205]

And the jeans came from the California Gold Rush when a man named Levi Strauss showed up with a wagon full of denim to make tents. No one needed tents, but they did need good trousers that would stand up to the rigors of the mining work. Definately an all-American garment.

[davedove]

There is a case to be made for pointed toes evolving to accommodate stirrups but the better case is probably that they were a response to fashion.

Now that fashion was mentioned, a joke:

A young city women went to a dude ranch for vacation. She saw the cowboy working in his clothes and asked about them and why he wore them.

"Well, maam, each piece of clothing has a purpose."

"We wear this wide brimmed hat to keep the bright western sun out of our eyes."

"We wear this bandanna around our necks so we can pull it up during a dust storm and not have to breathe in the dust."

"Our shirts are snapped shut for when we're branding calves. If one kicks and opens our shirt, instead of the buttons being ripped off, we can just snap it back up."

"These jeans are tough and durable because we do a lot of hard work that would be hard on a lighter material."

"And we wear these tennis shoes so folks can tell us from the truck drivers."

[Bugbear]

I am not advocating for "cowboy attire" as the American National Clothing. But it is a rather unique costume...worn indigenously nowhere else in the world.

When you get right down to it...like so much else in our lives...everything comes from somewhere else, if you go back far enough.

Yes, and as you say, it really isn't national costume. In fact, it is exclusive to a fairly small subculture of America. In my experience, the cowboys, in general, would prefer that only cowboys wear cowboy garb.

However, that may explain some things about parallel discussions...


Still I would not get upset about seeing someone in another country wearing cowboy garb mixed with their own garb. For example a cowboy hat and boots with a caftan. I would think, nice to see a splash of America. I know cowboys who might go into a fit of rage that their hat and boots are being worn that way, though...

Interesting.

I keep thinking about those pictures of the kilt being worn with the feather bonnet that Ron and Todd have talked about here on the foruim. I kind of like that for the context that it was done in.

[greenman11]

Red neck, White socks, and Blue ribbon beer. But any way, getting back to Fess Parker, the quintesential Americal outfit starts with buckskins and a coon skin hat and ends with blue jeans and a cowbot hat. Anywhere in the world a native would say "You are from America".

My humble opinion, no windmill jousting allowed.

regards,

[Bugbear]

Perhaps historically, but I really don't think coon
skin hats are worn enough to say they are the national hat.

It really does bother me. I feel like I am missing a prospective that many other people from other countries seem to have. It makes it difficult to understand reactions etc.

Perhaps, the traditional, American national clothing is attire that has mixed clothing from many other cultures together. That doesn't help though; that seems to be the problem I'm having with this in the first place.