Hats
Shirts
Trousers
Hats
In the Old West hats were extremely popular. They were an essential accessory to Cowboys. These hats were mostly made up of Stampede strings and leather or horse hair. Stampede strings were used to prevent the hat from blowing off when Cowboys went at extreme speeds while horse riding. The string was installed by running it half-way around the crown of the hat. Then through the holes on each side. Its ends were then knotted and secured under the chin or around the back. This is how is kept it on the head during windy conditions or when riding a horse.
Some of the popular hats were:
Bowler Hat
Sombrero
Stetson
The Stetson hat is an interesting one …show more content…
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.
Trousers
Wild West trousers were made out of wool and during the summer canvas was sometimes used. In the 1840s there was a change in demand. Suddenly, denim overalls became popular among miners. Why? It for being comfortable and most importantly affordable. The design was further enhanced by the Levi Strauss by adding copper rivets.
Leather chaps were often worn to protect the cowboy's legs from cactus spines and prevent the fabric from wearing out. Two common types include the skintight shotgun chaps and wide bat-wing chaps.
Women had a different set of attire compared to men. They wore knee-length prairie skirts or suede fringed skirts derived from Native American dress. As for dresses they wore red or blue gingham dresses. Saloon girls wore short red dresses with corsets, garter belts and stockings.
After World War the use of skirts started to fade and Women began to wear jeans like the