08 Home & Design January 2005
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HEAD LINE STORYThe dec could be here the dec could
be here the dec could be here the dec
could be here
Text by XXXX XXXXXX
Photography by Carlos Domenech A
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48 JANUARY 2005 HOME&DESIGN
By the end of the 1890s, the cowboy had become a romantic,
near-mythic figure in Wild West shows (beginning with Buffalo Bills
in 1882), dime novels and pulp fiction, and then the movies.
One significant figure was silent star William S. Hart who insisted
on authenticity in his wardrobe. He was followed by, the even more
influential, Tom Mix, whose attire always included flashy boots with
high heels and sterling silver jeweled spurs (when he was killed in a
car crash in 1940, he was wearing black, patent leather boots with a
floral design stitched in red, white and blue thread).
The craze for cowboy movies of the 1930s and 40s, from the
John Wayne oaters to the lighter films starring Gene Autry and Roy
Rogers, led to a demand for western clothes by the general public -
both male and female. It was extended by the popularity of such TV
westerns as Gunsmoke and Bonanza.
For the rest of the 20th century, boots became more flamboyant
with custom-made, multicolored inlaid examples by such firms as
Lucchese of San Antonio (who made Gene Autrys showiest pairs),
Rios, Olsen-Stelzer, Nudies and Charlie Garrison. Some boots cost
$4,000 plus then, and would bring more today.
The above mentioned B. Byron Price, who has held several
distinguished positions in the field, including director of the National
Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Okla., has
produced a lavish volume called Fine Art of the West (Abbeville
Press). Something of a misnomer, it deals exclusively with cowboy
garb and gear - although the magnificent photographic illustrations
do raise it almost to the level of fine art.
The comprehensive text treats in great historical detail the topics
of tooled leather saddles, including striking parade and presentation
examples, cartridge belts and holsters, leather gauntlets and cuffs,
leather and wool chaps, elaborate bridles, rawhide reatas, metal bits
and spurs, revolvers and rifles, watch fobs and belt buckles, Stetson
hats, and of course, boots.
Linda Rosenkrantz has edited Auction magazine and authored 15
books, including Telegram: Modern History as Told through More
than 400 Witty, Poignant, and Revealing Telegrams. She cannot
answer letters personally.
One of the key ingredients of the cowboys wardrobe, from the
late 19th century on, has been his boots. They have evolved from the
simple and basic to the colorful and elaborate, from the purely
practical to the more flamboyant and decorative.
In the earlier periods of riding the range, cowboys wore what
most other laborers wore: crude, round-toed, flat-heeled footwearmade of sturdy leather, which were shipped from factories in the east
and sold in local stores for a few dollars. After the Civil War, cavalry
boots were brought back from the service and found their way to the
west.
The first cowboy-style boot was made of softer leather. It was
usually calfskin and had a square-cut vamp, up to 3 inches. It had
underslung heels to help secure the stirrup and a high, loose
stovepipe top with decorative stitching to stiffen and keep the boots
upright.
Often, there was inside canvas cloth pull straps and leather inner
straps, or long mule ears that hung down the outside to help tug the
boots up. The almost knee-high boot protected the leg from such
hazards as snakes and brambles. It also shielded it from chafing.
According to expert B. Byron Price, the exact origins of the
cowboy boot are somewhat obscure. Most authorities believe the
prototype was made in Kansas, either at the shop of Charles H. Hyer
in Olathe or John W. Cubines in Coffeyville. There were other custom
boot makers in Abilene, Dodge City and Ellsworth, Kan., selling their
wares at twice the cost of store-bought pairs.
Cubines distinctive Coffeyville-pattern boots were cut lower in
the back to ensure free movement. In 1879 he began to make some
out of tanned alligator hide, at times adding a red or brown leather
panel at the top.By the end of the 1890s, the cowboy had become a romantic,
near-mythic figure in Wild West shows (beginning with Buffalo Bills
in 1882), dime novels and pulp fiction, and then the movies.
One significant figure was silent star William S. Hart who insisted