What to wear on the wild frontier

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – A huge outdoor rodeo, concerts, lots of parades and a carnival midway will be among the attractions at Cheyenne Frontier Days, one of the largest and most famous of the Old West festivals.

About 200,000 people are expected to attend the event, which runs July 22 through 31. Many of them will look like they belong at a rodeo. Many others will try – and fail.

How to blend in with the cowboys? Here are a few admonitions from seasoned Westerners for dressing smart during Frontier Days, the oldest and best-known festival of frontier culture – or any other rodeo, for that matter:

•Don’t wear your hat (no, we’re not talking baseball cap) way back like a sinking ship.

•Get yourself a respectable belt, preferably with a big, shiny buckle.

•Don’t even think about passing off hiking boots for cowboy boots.

•Trade in those jeans that look like a posse just dragged you in for some crisp new ones.

“A lot of tourists come to town, and that’s when they break out their cowboy hat that hasn’t been worn in 100 years. It doesn’t look very good,” said J.D. McGee, retail manager for Frontier Days.

“And they break out their boots that haven’t been worn, and the jeans that they would wear regularly, and it looks pretty funny.”

Start with the essential garment for dressing Western: crisp, dark blue jeans. Rodeo cowboys even have a preferred brand.

“Obviously Wrangler jeans is a big thing for the rodeo industry. People who wear Wrangler jeans look more the part – not the Levis or anything,” said McGee.

For men, the plainest of Wranglers do just fine. Women’s jeans get more complicated. Low-rise jeans are in style for women, but some prefer old-school, hip-hugging jeans without back pockets – known as “barebacks” or “Rockies,” which is a brand.

For an informal hat, Larry Rogers, manager of the Wrangler, a Western clothing store here not associated with the jeans company, suggested coarse straw, which country singers have popularized over the last couple years.

“You’ll notice Toby Keith or Tim McGraw wearing this type of hat,” he said.

Many cowboy hats get a lot fancier. Black or brown winter hats are made of wool blended with different types of felt, like beaver. They’re the most expensive, and can be steam-pressed to a shape that complements the wearer’s face.

For Frontier Days, though, don an off-white, straw cowboy hat, which is a lot cooler when you’re waiting in the hot sun for the next bull rider to hang on for eight seconds.

“Usually, you’ll start seeing guys wear them after Memorial Day, and all the way to Labor Day, depending on where they live,” Rogers said.

So how does one wear a cowboy hat properly? If there’s one rule for dressing Western, keep it more or less perpendicular to your face.

Other style points vary regionally. “Some people tuck their pants into their boots. Depending on where you’re at, that could be a no-no – and then other places, you know, a lot of cowboys do that,” said Rogers.

From basic cowhide boots, buckles and work shirts, both men and women can upgrade to ostrich, lizard or caiman boots; a heavy, ornate buckle (even a custom-made one); and a shirt with pearl buttons and lots of piping along the pockets and seams.

And for women, lots of old-fashioned rhinestones top everything to catch a cowboy’s eye.

Old-school men might opt for shirts with thin stripes of more subdued colors than the latest bold stripes or plaids of orange, yellow or blue. Then there’s old, old school: canvas pants, dusters and paisley-patterned vests and shirts.

But only sweat, grit and probably blood can buy the ultimate Frontier Days fashion accessory: a Frontier Days buckle.

Mind you, this is not one of the many souvenir Frontier Days buckles that can be picked up just about anywhere in town. We’re talking about the official version that’s awarded for winning a Frontier Days rodeo event.

“It’s not for sale anywhere, by any means,” McGee said.

The buckles, from Gist Silversmiths in Placerville, Calif., are made of sterling silver and gold and they are big – 4 1/2 inches long by 3 1/2 inches wide.

No more than 10 are awarded each year. Each is emblazoned with the event won – bull riding or barrel racing, say – so that quiet, aw-shucks cowboys don’t need any verbal braggadocio.

Even with all the right duds, of course, you could still be made as a tourist. Clothes which are so starched they obviously were never worn before are a sure sign of a greenhorn.

But take heart: You’ll have plenty of company during Frontier Days, and you and your money are still welcome.

“We get a lot of them with Hawaiian shirts and cowboy hats,” said Dawn Hoffman, manager of the Outlaw Saloon, a popular Frontier Days watering hole.