Cowboy hats - opinions?

[Stoney]

Truer words never spoken, or sung

For what it's worth....

I grew up a-dreamin' of bein' a cowboy,
and Lovin' the cowboy ways.
Pursuin' the life of my high-ridin' heroes,
I burned up my childhood days.
I learned of all the rules of the modern-day drifter,
Don't you hold on to nothin' too long.

Just take what you need from the ladies, then leave them,
With the words of a sad country song.
My heroes have always been cowboys.
And they still are, it seems.
Sadly, in search of, but one step in back of,
Themselves and their slow-movin' dreams.

Cowboys are special with their own brand of misery,
From being alone too long.
You could die from the cold in the arms of a nightmare,
Knowin' well that your best days are gone.
Pickin' up hookers instead of my pen,
I let the words of my years fade away.
Old worn-out saddles, and 'old worn-out memories,
With no one and no place to stay.

My heroes have always been cowboys.
And they still are, it seems.
Sadly, in search of, but one step in back of,
Themselves and their slow-movin' dreams.

Sadly, in search of, but one step in back of,
Themselves and their slow-movin' dreams.

Willie Nelson

P.S.

I still have my XXX Beaver Resistol Cowboy hat which I acquired at age 9. It will stay with me always.

 

[Gatsby-esque]

As a native Montanan, I have to say that the cowboy hat is seldom worn by real cowboys anymore. Instead, we have huge numbers of Californians and Easterners who come here because of the lifestyle andthen proceed to try to change it to the same thing they just left.

Sadly, cowboy hats are, all too often, worn with polyester suits and sportcoats with piping and yokes. Definitely NOT classic styling.

I have utmost respect for those who still work livestock todayand feed the rest of us but they are being (poorly) emulated by too many posers. You can spot the imposters because they commonly wear wranglers that are so tight that certain "man-parts" can be mistaken for "not-so-man-parts" and they insist that they need to pile 6-8 inches of extra inseam on their Tony Llama's.

On your trip to Germany, check out the Tyrol. A nice alternative to the fedora on occasion.

 

[Dr Trinidad]

There have been some classy western types in my opinion. Think Maverick

 

[Bebop]

As a native Montanan, I have to say that the cowboy hat is seldom worn by real cowboys anymore. Instead, we have huge numbers of Californians and Easterners who come here because of the lifestyle andthen proceed to try to change it to the same thing they just left.

Sadly, cowboy hats are, all too often, worn with polyester suits and sportcoats with piping and yokes. Definitely NOT classic styling.

I have utmost respect for those who still work livestock todayand feed the rest of us but they are being (poorly) emulated by too many posers. You can spot the imposters because they commonly wear wranglers that are so tight that certain "man-parts" can be mistaken for "not-so-man-parts" and they insist that they need to pile 6-8 inches of extra inseam on their Tony Llama's.

On your trip to Germany, check out the Tyrol. A nice alternative to the fedora on occasion.

Living in Spokane Wa. and traveling to Montana frequently, I see the Californians with money that buy huge pieces of land to "get away from it all" and then insist on shopping centers and high end stores with huge parking lots and wider highways. That frame of mind also includes taking the cowboy hat and all around general clothes and culture of the locals and "fancying them up" so they feel more "at home" out in the boonies. [huh] Money speaks loudly.

 

[GentlemanFarmer]

I tend to agree with Gatsby about "6 inches on top of their Tony Lamas", except the "posers" I notice do the opposite - they wear their jeans ready for high water. My Wranglers are one length size longer (34) than my usual inseam (32) for slacks and Dockers.

 

[Pilgrim]

Bud-n-Texas makes a good point, and one that has some history behind it. I'm sure that some of the western hatters will chime in on this, as it's rather interesting.

The style of ones' hat is indeed regional, although probably less consistently so than in the late 1800's and early 1900's. In that period, it was pretty easy to tell where a cowboy came from by the shape of his hat. There were distinct regional preferences, and in some cases, you could localize the wearer pretty closely by the style. There is some commentary about this here.

Here's an ordering chart showing current hat styles at The Hat Store in Houston.

There's also a nice online display of styles, many of which are recognizably historical, at Riverjunction.com.

Somewhere in the past I have even seen a chart showing regional preferences in hat styles, but I can't remember where, and I can't find one online. But preferences were definitely there, and they gave a good clue as to the wearer's origins.

Over time, I think the ability to tell a wearer's point of origin has diminished. Media such as TV and movies have spread styles around so that you might find a Montana style in Arizona, and the Texas styles favored by singers like George Strait have become nationally popular.

 

[TexDavid]

Just had to weigh in on this one. As a native of Oklahoma and now a Texan, I feel very comfortable in a cowboy hat. In fact, you could walk down the main street in Houston any day of the week with a suit, tie, pair of cowboy boots and a cowboy hat and never get a second look.

I did have an interesting experience wearing a cowboy hat in L.A. a few years ago. Just for grins, I wore my jeans, western shirt, hat, and boots every day during our stay in downtown L.A. I had lots of opportunities to strike up interesting conversations with L.A.ers because of my "unusual" getup. One of the porters in the Biltmore hotel came up to compliment me on my hat and ended up giving my wife and me a tour of the hotel. Other people would call out to me on the street, telling me that they liked my boots or hat. It was a great time and very entertaining - I met lots of great people who probably would not have given me the time of day had I been attired in "typical" street clothes.

Several posters have implied that those who wear a cowboy hat who aren't "genuine" cowboys are somehow imposters. An earlier post said it well -- it's just a style of dress. A question: do those of you who assume anyone wearing a cowboy hat should own a horse also assume that anyone you see wearing a baseball cap should be on the roster of a MLB team?!

Y'all come on down and see us!! David

 

[Art Fawcett]

BRAVO DAVID!!!!

Welcome to the Lounge:eusa_clap :eusa_clap

 

[Bebop]

Very true, TexDavid. Style seems to be like music. You blend in a little bit of the blues, some country, a little jazz, and some rock n' roll and you have an entertaining slice. Creative license is part of hat wearing in general. :eusa_clap

 

[TexDavid]

Thanks, Art, for the welcome. It's a pleasure to converse with a group of like-minded folks.

Another thought re cowboy hats and a difference from other types of hats: owners of fedoras (of which I have a couple and wear regularly!), porkpies, trilbys, etc. don't very often customize the hats with a different hatband, at least not that I have observed. Most of the wearers of these hats that I have seen are sporting the hatband that came with the hat.

On the other hand, wearers of cowboy hats frequently "dress them up" with their own style of hat band. My black cowboy hat, e.g., has a braided horsehair band, while my silverbelly hat is customized with a leather band with small silver conchos.

Am I wrong on this observation -- do you who regularly adorn yourself with a dress hat ever "personalize" the hat by changing out the band?

David

 

[Art Fawcett]

For me that's not a good question, as I make most of my own hats, but in general, you're right.
I have a few westerns in my collection and had the opportunity last fall to wear my 1950's "Nudie" black western, 5" brim, adorned with a checkered hankerchief around the leather band ( black & white) that is exactly like I found it a few years back. It had SO much personality I couldn't think of a thing to do to it to make it better. I didn't even knock the dust off it..and wore it to my first Rodeo. Have you noticed....those boys are crazy???

 

[K.D. Lightner]

Welcome to the lounge, David.

When I lived in Iowa and NYC I had cowboy hats but did not wear them. Iowa was much too provinchial for any hat outside the baseball cap. New Yorkers would laugh you off the streets.

When I moved to San Diego, I thought, oh, boy, now I can wear my cowboy hats. It was with some sadness, I realized quite quickly that I had moved too far west.

However, I could always escape into the back country, i.e., El Cajon and beyond, and feel right at home in my cowboy hat.

karol

 

[Stoney]

From Iowa?

Me too... I was born and raised in Newton. A small town, Jasper County Seat.
We had plenty of people with horses there at that time. Half of the kids lived on farms and most of us wore our Cowboy hats.. This was the 60s.

 

[Rooster]

Iowa here too, Davenport to be exact. Folks wear cowboy hats in Iowa, just not in the city. It's a country folk/farm thing.
I'm involved with showing livestock, so I probably see more of them than most folks.
Alot of teen age 4H boys showing cattle wear all western type clothes with a ball cap too. Not just any ball cap, the brim has to have a radical curve and the hat has to sit just so....along with a big wad of tobacco placed statigically betwixed check and gum....lol

 

[Stinchcomb]

The style of ones' hat is indeed regional, although probably less consistently so than in the late 1800's and early 1900's. In that period, it was pretty easy to tell where a cowboy came from by the shape of his hat. There were distinct regional preferences, and in some cases, you could localize the wearer pretty closely by the style.

I believe it is still true today. I'm not very Worldly by no mean, but have traveled the US quite extensively due to family all over the freakin’ place. There is a distinct difference in what most wear in Montana, Wyoming, Dakota areas than what is worn in the South East (TN, GA, AL.) The South Easterners wear more of the new style Urban Cowboy hat and those in the true West wear closer version of what might have been worn by cowboys in the 19th century.

 

[K.D. Lightner]

Well, dang, not only did I live in the wrong place in the west (San Diego), I lived in the wrong place in Iowa. I was a city gal, grew up in Des Moines, and, later spent a couple of years in Iowa City.

Nowhere did I see adults wearing cowboy hats, thought I happily wore a red one all through my childhood.

karol

 

[Rooster]

Here's a big ol' "TOM MIX" cowboy hat I was watching on ebay. Unfortunatly the size was too small and the price too big!:eusa_doh:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=230095144399&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=013

 

[feltfan]

Here's a big ol' "TOM MIX" cowboy hat I was watching on ebay. Unfortunatly the size was too small and the price too big!:eusa_doh:

That is a nice hat and a big price. No maker's mark, either.
Just indication of the seller and three Xs. Interesting.

So if you had won it, would you have worn it? With what outfit?

 

[Rooster]

Well, if I would have won, I would have to have went out and robbed a bank to pay for it!lol I believe that's probably more of a collectors type hat. Of course , if you can afford 1K on a cowboy hat, I suppose you could afford to wear it!

 

[GentlemanFarmer]

No way

Maybe it's the Scot in me, but I'm way to frugal to pay 1K for a hat just to wear around. As an investment - some famous hat like that John Wayne hat - maybe, but not to wear. I always say "Never say never". If I hit the Powerball, I might change my mind.