The Cowboy Outfit

Remember the song, “I can tell by your outfit that you are a cowboy”? That was and is completely true. The cowboy’s outfit was unique to his trade. Although it could be flashy, it was basically designed to be practical and functional.  Every piece of clothing and gear was designed for practicality and to protect him from the elements. But rather than being issued uniforms from the trail boss, a cowboy was expected to purchase his own clothing and gear. Therefore, everything could be personalized.

A good hat protected him from the sun, snow, wind and rain along with slickers and a warm coat. Chaps protected him from horns and cactus while leather cuffs protected him from rope burns. A vest with pocket was handy because shirts has not pockets. With the vest, he had a place to hold a tally book, pencil stubs, tobacco or a pocket knife.

However, no single item of a cowboy’s outfit set him apart more than his hat. And his hat band was a critical part of that statement. Even though they could personalize their hats with a hat band, the hat band also served a purpose. It helped the hat keep its shape.

Cow hands spent a lot of time in the rain and elements and the hat band helped keep the wet hat from stretching out of shape or size. At first, the hatbands were leather with a buckle but soon expanded into horse hair and beaded hat bands. Sometimes the cowhands had plenty of time on their hands. And his horse was right there with him. So why not just braid and horse hair hat band to kill a little extra time. And in time, they started to use dyes so the braided horse hair hat band could really become fancy. 

Hitched horse hair hat bands were another story. The art of hitched horse hair—a series of tiny knots—was developed by the Moors and brought to North America by the Spanish. A bridle often took between one and two year to complete and a hat band a little less. Therefore, who had the time to apply this art? It was obviously the inmates in the territorial prison system. They were not allowed to do leather carving because of the sharp tools. Many of the early prisons had stables and so therefore a steady supply of horse hair was available. Still today, inmates at the Montana State Prison are making hitched horse hair products. In fact, Horse Feathers carries these one of a kind hat bands so be sure to email us if you are interested.

Native Americans, famous for their bead work, applied their trade to hat bands in order to personalize their scout hat. And that trade took off as well. Now there are wonderful  horse hair and beaded hat bands in every style, width and color.

The wild rag, also known as bandana, neckerchiefs, and handkerchiefs and scarfs were either cotton or silk. They came I a variety of colors and patterns but a red wild rag was the favorite. So even though they could be flashy, they were essential to the outfit. They were never in a pocket, but always tied around the neck in a variety of ways. Again the wild rag itself and the tying method was a personal choice. The wild rag was probably the most versatile piece of clothing that the cowboy wore. It served as a face mask from sun, wind, dust and rain. They used it as a blindfold for a spooked horse. The list of the uses of a wild rag goes on and on—strainer, sweatband, gun cleaning cloth, hobble, washcloth, bandage, tourniquet, napkin, pot holder, sling, signal flag—let your imagination go wild and inventive because the cowboy sure did!

The use of the scarf slide was a later addition to the cowboy outfit. It was the wild west performers, rodeo riders, western singers and Hollywood actors that added the scarf slide to the outfit for a flamboyant touch. The scarf slide could be made from just about anything, very in size and range from simple to fancy.

            

Grest fun here, but don't forget to look at our selection of hat bands, wild rags and scarf slides. We have leather hat band, beaded hat bands, horse hair hat bands and hat bands in every color.