The cowboy boot as we know it today, as an icon of the American West and the rough riding and spirited cowboys who wore them, is a style of boot actually born far from North America as part of the military dress of Hessian (German) soldiers in the 18th century. The Hessian boot was characterized by a high shaft decorated with a tassel at the front, which was cut at a v-shape. The tip of the boot was narrowed and it had low heels that were adapted for ease of use with the riding stirrup.
The journey of the Hessian boot to the cowboy boot of the wild west was helped along by England’s Duke of Welllington, Arthur Wellesley, who took the original Hessian style of boot and had the design altered for his own use towards the middle of the 1800’s. His version of the boot, which came to be termed the Wellington, had a shorter shaft cut to mid-calf and was more closely fitted than the Hessian original. This boot quickly became popular with his compatriots and eventually made its way to the United States where it was widely worn among soldiers in the Civil War and then by those involved in the expansion of the western frontier: the cowboys of the American imagination.
The cowboy boot, an evolution of the Wellington (which also later would be more firmly associated with the rubber material version rather than the original leather version), was distinct for its ornamentation and slight variation on the Wellington style; they originally did not have as pointed a toe as the Wellington and some alternatives had the cut of the shaft higher at the front or decorated with inlaid ornamentation. By the 1950’s, the cowboy boot was popularized to an extraordinary extent by the film industry. Hollywood proliferated the image of the heroic cowboy and the fashion for cowboy boots was no longer confined to the great wide open frontiers or the rural lifestyle but became tokens of independent spirit for the urban style-setter as well.
The rectangular shaped poncho has seen its fashion rise and fall through many periods and cultures in history. Its origins lie with the indigenous cultures of South and Central America, whose mastery of the weaving craft produced woolen textiles so fine that they have hardly been altered in design or degree to this day. The poncho is a simple rectangular or square- shaped cut of fabric with an opening at its center for the wearer’s head. It is essentially a formless piece of clothing that protects the body effectively despite its basic design and is a garment worn by both men and women traditionally.
In the indigenous cultures where the poncho and other textile weaves were staples of costume, what one wore was not only a decorative choice but could also be an indicator of status, origins, and familial association. Woven textiles from the indigenous groups of Central and South America would be patterned with layers of meaning so that bands of colors, and the grouping of these, as well as arrangement of design, served as social indicators.
The poncho form can be associated with similar forms of clothing in fashion history, such as the cloak or cape, so popular in the Victorian age and again in the mid-20th century, along with the aristocratic stole, and the Kashmir pashmina shawl that has had the more recent period of popularity in the West. Fashion in the west has, of course, absorbed and re-absorbed all these styles by virtue of its trend-oriented culture and continues to do so with some adjustments of detail and specific attention to brands. It is the curiosity of contemporary fashion that it is able to habitually ‘discover’ fashions that have been in existence and continued usage in other cultures for thousands of years.
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Tags: Central American Fashion History, Fashion History, history of the aristocratic stole, history of the cape, history of the cloak, history of the Kashmir pashmina shawl, history of the poncho, History Store, indigenous fashion, Latin American Fashion History, Mexican fashion history, old west fashion, Old West Pioneer Blouse, Old West Preacher’s Vest, Old West Store, Old West Trousers or Duckins, South American Fashion History
In the late 1700s cattle herders of Spanish descent spread throughout the west with their horsemanship and indefatigable attachment to the land and came to define a certain way of life that occupies a distinct part of the American and Mexican imagination.
