The modern cowboy hat

[Matt Deckard]

Is it me, or is the style just mind numbingly boring?

Historically Cowboy hats had lots of character... look at all those old west pictures. The style carried into the movies with the telescoped crowns and wide bound brims pencil curls and Gus creases and every look under the sun imaginable.

You go into a cowboy hat shop today and all you find are a sea of these on employees and customers in Texas or New Mexico.

Now Garth has some pretty sweet hats... but it's still a close variation to the defacto standard.

Pretty much the only style you see people wearing at the Rodeo and mostly what's on the shelves.... same style, all companies.

 

[Mr E Train]

As with the fashion, so goes the music. Cookie-cutter, bland, everybody looking and sounding the same. Can you tell I don't like modern country music?

The old guys wore their hats (and sounded) so much better (imho).

 

[fluteplayer07]

Are you kidding me? Today's cowboy hats aren't boring at all, especially when we have *ahem* ...original... beauties like these!

 

[ScionPI2005]

Are you kidding me? Today's cowboy hats aren't boring at all, especially when we have *ahem* ...original... beauties like these!

Scorched is right. I think it burned my eyes!

 

[Mr E Train]

Are you kidding me? Today's cowboy hats aren't boring at all, especially when we have *ahem* ...original... beauties like these!

Now there's a hat that screams "class."

 

[Mav]

Is it me, or is the style just mind numbingly boring?

It's not just you.

 

[Brad Bowers]

I've thought the same thing for the last twenty years. When I had a cowboy band in the early '90s and tried to break into the country music scene, I made sure I had a very distinctive hat. I'll have to see if I can find a photo.

Brad

 

[donnc]

Is it me, or is the style just mind numbingly boring?

Historically Cowboy hats had lots of character... look at all those old west pictures. The style carried into the movies with the telescoped crowns and wide bound brims pencil curls and Gus creases and every look under the sun imaginable.

You go into a cowboy hat shop today and all you find are a sea of these on employees and customers in Texas or New Mexico.

Yet the big hat makers offer a fairly wide range of styles, from maybe a half dozen subtle variations on the standard, different "ribbons", to the Gus, center dent, whatever eccentric thing.

I'd like to know who's wearing a Gus, and where. My guess is, among the kind of people who normally wear a Western hat, style is about those fairly subtle variations. I mean, typically it's kind of a conservative culture, isn't it? You can see the differences, it's up to you whether they're interesting or boring.

What's frustrating for me about it is that the cultural "brand" on them is so strong that they're sort of out of bounds in my world. I mean, I wore a big beret out this evening, or I might have worn a homburg and been just about as odd, but in my crowd a western hat is about on the same level as wearing a star wars storm trooper outfit.

 

[The Good]

I'm a city slicker (or suburbanite perhaps?), but I sometimes watch televised rodeos (I've only ever been to maybe two in person), and I've yet to notice any crease other than the usual cattleman's crease, and most cowboy hats are black, with white ones showing up now and again. They do look good, granted, but these styles are very common. I'm wondering if anyone else has noticed anything different among the rodeo crowd. Telescope, tycoon, or gus creases, maybe? Or for that matter, a hat color other than silverbelly/white or black, such as tan, brown, or even grey?

 

[frussell]

Depends on where you look

The cattleman crease is still the standard, but if you go to different areas, you'll see a wide variety of creases. There's some buckaroos in Idaho and other places that wear a small-brimmed, fedora style hat when they work. The only time I keep a cattleman crease in a cowboy hat is if I want one to wear in a more formal setting. One or two dunks in a trough, and most of my hats get their own unique shape. I love the tall crown Tom Mix style, which most post-Lonesome Dove hatters call a "Gus," but I'm six foot five, and the tall crowns tend to hit doorways and the occasional ceiling fan when I wear them, especially with boots. A nice "mule kick" dent in the back of the crown takes a bit of the height out. As for black, only a complete greenhorn would wear a black hat in the late spring or summer where I live. We get up to 127 degrees occasionally here, and if you're wearing a black hat, you're looking for heatstroke. Don't let what you see on TV rodeos or CMT tell you what real cowboys are wearing. Go out to a ranch that still works cattle for real, you'll see more than just the same old crease. A real cowboy's hat usually has its own style and is part of his identity. Frank

 

[Art Fawcett]

The cattleman crease is still the standard, but if you go to different areas, you'll see a wide variety of creases. There's some buckaroos in Idaho and other places that wear a small-brimmed, fedora style hat when they work. The only time I keep a cattleman crease in a cowboy hat is if I want one to wear in a more formal setting. One or two dunks in a trough, and most of my hats get their own unique shape. I love the tall crown Tom Mix style, which most post-Lonesome Dove hatters call a "Gus," but I'm six foot five, and the tall crowns tend to hit doorways and the occasional ceiling fan when I wear them, especially with boots. A nice "mule kick" dent in the back of the crown takes a bit of the height out. As for black, only a complete greenhorn would wear a black hat in the late spring or summer where I live. We get up to 127 degrees occasionally here, and if you're wearing a black hat, you're looking for heatstroke. Don't let what you see on TV rodeos or CMT tell you what real cowboys are wearing. Go out to a ranch that still works cattle for real, you'll see more than just the same old crease. A real cowboy's hat usually has its own style and is part of his identity. Frank

Ditto...

 

[Mr. Godfrey]

Boss Spearman

Well, the western hat I want is the "Boss Spearman"

From "The Last Best West"

I don't think they sell boring hat's, however, they are custom made so I guess I have to agree with you there Matt, as any other western hats I seem to see all look the same apart from colour.

I just need the exchange rate to go in my favour as I want it in 100x beaver

 

[J. M. Stovall]

Something else about modern hats is they all seem stiff as a board, where when I watch old westerns when they grab them by the brim they look to be soft like a fedora.

 

[gtdean48]

Most Pro Rodeo contestants now have sponsors so they wear hats provided to them which are cattleman creases. Lots of bull riders have hand creased hats because they are a rare breed, most likely a coffin crease.
Go to an AQHA, NCHA, NRHA, team roping, barrel racing or reined cowhorse show & you'll see predominantly cattleman creases, especially on the judges & open (professional) contestants. You'll see an odd crease but it most likely is own a vendor & usually a custom hat maker at that.
Hats on working cowboys vary by region just like boots, spurs, & chaps/chinks. Those brims exposed to the elements do get softer & that is what movies try to capture. I also like the hats of the drovers in The Man From Snowy River compared to the stock Akubra models.
The cattleman crease is a classic, just like George Strait. Garth Brooks wears a arena crease which is real close to a cattleman but he ain't a team roper like George.

 

[BanjoMerlin]

I remember going into good western stores and seeing that the only pre-shaped hats in view were the cheapies. ALL of the "good" hats were open crown with full, unformed brims. You bought the hat and they shaped it the way you wanted it - while you waited. I usually wore an "RCA" crease which is sort of like a typical fedora but the top of the hat tended to fill up with water in the rain. The cattleman's crease is much better in the rain.

You also had some choice as to how stiff you wanted the hat to be. Western hats were thicker felt than dress hats so they were stiffer but if you wanted you could get a hat that would fend off rain, hail and meteors.

There are no stores like that near me but there must be a few left, maybe?

 

[DOUGLAS]

When I used to be in this group I always made sure every one had a different hat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vn72H4iDzk&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gibJD5BTsTk&feature=related

 

[Mr E Train]

That's great, Douglas. I love Toby Huss, but I had never seen those promos before. Of course, I never watched MTV that much, at least not in the 90's and later.

 

[hatflick1]

Excellent topic!
While in Taos, New Mexico, years back, I went to an authentically vintage Western shop which I believe is called Horse Feathers. It offered a wide array of used cowboy hats. If my memory serves, some had been "picked" right off the heads (compensation paid, of course) of working cowboys who reluctantly parted with them. Each was unique in its own way and featured real trail aging and diverse creases and crowns. None resembled the standard issue hat discussed today. The shop also offered boots. A wide variety of classic styles. A great place to check out if you are in the area.

Additionally, there is a terrific photo essay called The Vanishing West. In it are featured color photographs of working cowboys and buckaroos wearing any shaped form of old west hat to include derbies, homburgs and sombreros.

And then there is the Cowboy Poetry Festival, Elko, Nevada. This is truly the Mecca of diverse western head wear. Ya just never know what's going to be passing you on the street. One such hat was made by the Amish of Pennsylvania, and it was worn by a young Nevada rancher whose wife told me he writes to Pennsylvania and orders a replacement every year. Custom hat makers are on hand and display their works throughout the local hotel banquet rooms. A hat maker told me that working cowboys save up their wages to buy a custom model which is purchased on a lay away plan. One such final check, I was told, was streaked with dirt, mud and specks of blood. It cleared.

 

[The Sky Ranger]

I do the bashing of my western hats myself:
http://westernverein.netfirms.com/bigbi001komp.jpg
http://westernverein.netfirms.com/cowboywinter010komp.jpg

 

[tnitz]

PRCA Crease

Just one of the factors influencing rodeo headwear is that many refer to the Cattleman Crease as the PRCA Crease in rodeo circles. If there is even the most subtle of distinctions, they evade me. Also, as already mentioned, the riders have sponsors and the organizers, judges, other officials and courts are all provided their hats as part of their "uniform". Here, they all wear Bailey straw hats. (Well, except for me but I stay out of the arena).

Attire within the arena is tightly controlled and entrance requires specific clothing, riders and officials alike. Even my brother, who films the rodeo, and has some nice westerns, bought a straw PRCA crease to fit in. What happens in that arena has little to do with real life.

One local example: Some years back we started a special which was supposed to harken back to old rodeo. Even so, I've yet to see anyone pull out a pair of angoras or a real hat when they ride. Even the riding style is premised on the idea of clown-like gawdy riding, rather than the style of riding from the 1920's. Again, it's all entertainment and has nothing to do with anything. It's 21st century rodeo.

Occasionally you will see a spectator in a real hat, but they stick out like a sore thumb. I suspect the same would be true of an alpine crease in 1930's New York.