Denim has become a fabric so popular and current in contemporary fashion that in its ubiquity we may forget it has a history too. The origins of the denim fabric are somewhat disputed but some historians trace its production to centers in Italy and France during the sixteenth century where mention is made of fabrics ‘de Nimes’ (from a region in France) or ‘jean’ from production centers in Italy that were made of various threads including wool, silk, cotton. By the 18th and 19th centuries the production of denim had transmitted successfully to England and the United States and had begun to detach itself from association with ‘jean’, becoming a durable, entirely cotton weave fabric, akin to the denim we are familiar with now. 
Jean and denim remained different in their categorization through the 19th century- with ‘jean’ fabric being designated for slightly more refined clothing and the sturdier denim weave being used for work-clothes and considered a much simpler, unpretentious textile. The first textile mills in the United States arose in New England and that is where in the mid 1800’s the production of denim in the weave and color we are familiar with began as well.
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 Old West Store offers products of interest to the reenactor and collector of Old West replicas and Wild West gifts. We offer authentically reproduced Old West clothing including but not limited to: Western Gambler Shirts, Old West Range Pants, Old West Trousers or Duckins, Old West Lawman Vests (Waistcoats), Old West Frock Coats, Old West Suspenders, Old West String Ties, replica rifles, replica revolvers and more. Visit our store for your reenactment, film or stage requirements today. |
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