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"It isn't a @*$%> cowboy hat"

Sam Craig

One Too Many
Messages
1,356
Location
Great Bend, Kansas
Hey, Cicero. Yep, I live in Belgium (except just found a job -not as cowboy, though- in Breda, so weekdays I'm in the Netherlands) but then Breda's Brabant, too.
Stampede Sam (aka Sam Craig) ...I'm afraid not only the cowboy's gone away over the rainbow. I hope to be invited to join the club, a privilege.

"I mean he said he was a dying breed. I didn’t know he meant on this trip." -- City Slickers

If it's worth anything, I've lived almost 60 years in cowboy country.
I HAVE cowboyed.
And you got the look in your avatar!

As we say:
Cowboy Up!

Sam
 

Riot Earp

Familiar Face
Messages
92
Location
Rochester, NY
The OR is a western hat. It isn't a cowboy hat although real cowboys might indeed wear one. It is a western dress hat.

Agreed. The OR is probably best described as a western dress hat.

I live in upstate New York. I only wear my outback hat while hiking, or during a snowstorm, to circumvent the "cowboy" comments. For some reason, I never get a comment when there is snow coming down. I guess people figure that I'm wearing the hat for a valid reason.
 

The Good

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,361
Location
California, USA
I'm confused, I thought the Stetson Open Road WAS a Cowboy Hat?

I'd like to think of mine as one. It's the modern Stetson Open Road with the pre-creased Cattleman thing going, so it definitely looks the part, if with a slightly narrower brim. I think these hats look decidedly less cowboy without it anyway, although still country/western in styling.
 

Cicero

A-List Customer
Messages
409
Location
Belgium
"Hey Glenn where is your revolver."
This was the comment today from someone i know when i was wearing my Fedora.
He's at least 70 years old, he should have known better!....funny guy.
 
Last edited:

Mystic

Practically Family
Messages
882
Location
Northeast Florida
Ya kind of get the 'Cowboy' thing in my area if you wear anything other than a baseball cap with a baseball or football team logo on it.
 

Grizzly Adams

A-List Customer
Messages
364
Location
New Mexico
Fun thread! I grew up in Texas and New Mexico, and the Open Road was as "cowboy hat" as they came. I would add, however, that the OR was more often worn by "the boss" than the working cowboy - though not always. It was also the western hat chosen by many for Sunday service at the local Baptist church in places like Sandhill, Texas! Hmmm...maybe it's a Baptist Hat!

Doesn't the "fedora" date back to the turn of the century, say 1890s? I believe it does, and as such, I am sure it found service on the head of many a working man - including "cowboys."

At one of the local cafes here, they have old pictures of this community "back in the day", and many pics of working cowboys. The hats being worn include sombreros, fedoras, Montana Peak, flop hats, bowlers, and variations of Boss of the Plains open crown, flat brimmed hats. Non sport a cattleman's crease!
 

scottyrocks

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,178
Location
Isle of Langerhan, NY
I'll take exception with some of your comments. I have quite a few "cowboy"hats. Some have ribbons, very thin probably 1/4 to 3/8". Two very high quality Stetsons have a "ribbon" made from the same felt as the hat. One straw I have has a very tasteful leather ribbon. One has a 1 1/2 ribbon and still looks very cowboy.

A brim does not have to be 4", I have a couple as narrow as 3" and they are definetly, western or cowboy.

It's not any one thing, but a combination and styling that puts a hat into the cowboy category.

I took one of my father's westerns and converted it to a thin ribbon fedora and other than being a thicker stiffer felt you would never think of it as western

I have a number of cowboy/westerns, myself, with different shapes, brim sizes, and ribbon materials, including grosgrain. I took kabuto's post as tongue-in-cheek. It's essence was to shut down those types who can't seem to keep their ignorant comments to themselves, that's all. It was all about obvious contrasts. At least, that's how I took it.
 

Edward

Bartender
Messages
25,074
Location
London, UK
Fun thread! I grew up in Texas and New Mexico, and the Open Road was as "cowboy hat" as they came. I would add, however, that the OR was more often worn by "the boss" than the working cowboy - though not always. It was also the western hat chosen by many for Sunday service at the local Baptist church in places like Sandhill, Texas! Hmmm...maybe it's a Baptist Hat!

Doesn't the "fedora" date back to the turn of the century, say 1890s? I believe it does, and as such, I am sure it found service on the head of many a working man - including "cowboys."

At one of the local cafes here, they have old pictures of this community "back in the day", and many pics of working cowboys. The hats being worn include sombreros, fedoras, Montana Peak, flop hats, bowlers, and variations of Boss of the Plains open crown, flat brimmed hats. Non sport a cattleman's crease!

That's the funny thing - the ten gallon hat that folks now think of as the stereotypical cowboy hat is really not something you see with any regularity (if at all) in genuine photos of the Old West. Could it be one of those Hollywood inventions, like the whole quick-draw phenomenon, or (in a different genre) walking the plank?

Any brimmed hat (even a Panama, in my experience) can draw cowboy comments over here. Thing is that most people out there in the street simply aren't that observant as to details, and to them one brimmed hat is the same as any other. Well over half the people who call you a "cowboy" genuinely won't see any difference between an open road and a ten gallon style, even right beside each other.
 

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