Introduction

The look: Embroidered shirt, string tie, denim workwear, cowboy boots, Stetson hat.

The time: ‘30s/40s+

The place:  USA (especially South-West)

Influenced: Rockabillies, Teddy Boys, Folkies, Hippies

Essay Excerpt

The urban folk who yearned to be dudes in embroidered shirts, fancy boots, string-ties and Stetsons punching cows on dude ranches were also the natural and enthusiastic audience for the ‘singing cowboys’ who, increasingly in the 1930s and 1940s, poured out of Hollywood and the ‘Country & Western’ music industry. This enthusiasm for and delight in all things ‘Western’ came predominately from the cities and the newly emerging suburbs rather than from those who themselves lived in real rural ‘cowboy country’ and who knew the hard, unglamorous reality far too well to be mesmerized by the fantasy.