It has become evident in recent decades that masculinity is under siege. We need not go into the sordid sociological details here — the evidence is a mere Google search away. In a world where the male romper is a “thing,” it might be tempting to give in to despair at the state of manhood in the West, as reflected in “acceptable” male attire.
Ah, but despair I do not. For, despite forays into lace cuffs and lad rompers across the centuries, truly, classically, manly attire has persisted across epochs. The foundation of said attire rests upon wide-brimmed hats and tall boots. Now largely relegated to “Western Wear,” boots-and-hats” have a venerable pedigree in Western Civilization, dating back to 17th century Europe.
This minor treatise celebrates the persistence of these iconic items of functional masculine apparel.
The template was properly set in the middle of the 17th Century, a time of turmoil, religious conflict — and impeccable style. With the advent of the musketeer and the horse pistol, the day of the cavalier had arrived.
Note the establishment of the fundamentals — the sweeping brim, the tall, square-toed cavalry boot. This entirely perfect melding of form and function would last through most of a century. In the mid-18th Century, there developed an unfortunate compulsion to pin up the sides of the hat into the ridiculous tricorn, which has no reason to live. This was also an era of lacy frills and effete gestures among the effete metrosexuals known as macaroni. As in stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni.
Of course there wasn’t much of that nonsense out in old Kaintuck, which is where I go when I visit the 18th Century…
Thankfully, by the middle part of the 19th Century, proper form and function had been firmly re-established with the self-consciously cavalier appearance of the American Civil War Cavalryman.
J.E.B Stuart.
John Hunt Morgan.
George Armstrong Custer.
And, of course, said Cavalier style reached its modern apogee in William F. Cody — Buffalo Bill.
The 17th century cavalier style crossed nationalities and religious affiliations. Germans, English, French, Spanish — they were all be-hatted, booted and spurred.
A jolly German soldier c. 1630s.
However, we owe what we think of as Western or cowboy hats and boots to the influence of the Spanish. A most representative figure is Arturo Perez-Reverte’s magnificent character Capitan Diego Alatriste. Perpetually down at the heels, he is a sometime-soldier and a sword-for-hire based in 17th Century Madrid. And with an update in armament, he wouldn’t look or feel out of place as late as Revolutionary Mexico in the early 20th Century. He even has the right mustache for the job.
Whatever else one might say about the Dons, they were not afraid of their own hats…
… and their caballero style was directly adopted by the vaquero and persists in fine form to this day.
Riata Men. (Joelle Smith).
So when you look around appalled at what a male person will wear these days, reflect upon the fact that truly manly attire has survived these past 300 years, and will continue to flourish wherever a man pulls on a pair of square-toed boots and cocks his wide-brimmed hat just right.
Two galoots in front of the newspaper office on the streets of Sisters.
Paul McNamee says
You’re gonna make me order a Panama hat and read more Alatriste, sir.
I still need to get used to boots in summer heat. (plus I’ve come down with a case of old man left foot and I need to be particular about footwear of late.)
That romper thing is horse hockey. It’s not a thing. Its creators are pushing internet hype to try to create a stir and make it “a thing.”
“Stop trying to make ‘fetch’ happen. It’s not going to happen.” 😉
Off to revamp my wardrobe…
JimC says
Panama hat and Alatriste. Worse things to indulge in of a long summers day.
Matthew says
When I went to Japan, it confirmed something that I’ve always suspected: The Japanese in a lot of ways have the opposite view of masculinity. Every male under like thirty five is trying to look like Justin Bieber whose picture is everywhere. Here I was a tall, scruffy, bearded American in a crowded subway car surrounded by people who look like they were trying out for a boy band.
Odd thing is that a pretty boy in a tv show is likely to be a samurai or some other masculine archetype. Muscular guys are likely to be gay. There exceptions like Toshiro Mifune from Yojimbo, but not a lot. Shrug.
deuce says
“In the mid-18th Century, there developed an unfortunate compulsion to pin up the sides of the hat into the ridiculous tricorn, which has no reason to live.”
LOL! That said, Conan and Vulmea rocked some tricorns. Sometimes, circumstances conspire. Then, just own it.
Jerry says
Yeah don’t knock the tricorn 🙂
It will always be associated with bad ass revolutionaries in my mind.
Thom Eley says
Great article. I feel naked without my hat and knife. I think it is mostly a cap (worn backwards) generation any more. Yellowstone Kelly like big hats as well. Once upon a time, the U.S. Marine Corps had a GREAT hat, called the field hat. My dad would raise hell with me if I called it a campaign hat or, God forbid, a Smokey Bear hat. It was interesting to see the image of Riata Man by Joelle Smith. I have that picture hanging right above me as I write. We have much of Joelle Smith’s work and were fortunate enough to become friends. Her mother Sally Smith lives up in Alfalfa, Oregon, and we went up to see her when we were in Sisters. She is a nice person with a beautiful ranch. The pack rats had just eaten the complete wiring off one of her trucks! Suffice it to say, it was open-season on pack rats.
JimC says
Met Joelle in Elko. Lovely person.
Annie says
Even wearing a male romper I have no doubt that you would find the perfect hat to wear with it. We probably would even notice the romper.
JimC says
Fortunately for all the world, we will never see this theory tested.
Matthew says
What kind of hats are Custer and Buffalo wearing? I don’t know the names of clothes.
JimC says
Their wide-brimmed, slightly upswept beaver felt hats were g4nerally referred to as sombreros. Probably custom made in both cases. There used to be a whole bunch of hatters. Now there are only a few _ and fortunately we have one working here in Sisters:
http://baldwinhats.com/
Matthew says
Thanks.
Article at Sofrep on Bunker Hill.
https://sofrep.com/83788/battle-bunker-hill-june-16-17-1775-americas-independence-born/
Paul R. McNamee says
Great article on Bunker (Breed’s) Hill. Thank you.
deuce says
Well, now we know why Jim moved to Sisters. Should’ve been obvious.
J.F. Bell says
The one saving grace of fashion is that, for whatever the herd screams about as the latest and greatest thing, practical clothing endures. Hence why none but hobbyists dress as 18th Century French Royalty these days but the working-man’s attire is still with us more or less unchanged for the past couple of centuries.
Hence denim jeans (dating to the 1849 Gold Rush) the pocketed vest (same period) the broad- or medium-brimmed hat and boots (waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back there) are acceptable for most any occasion.
Any idiot can look pretty. A lot of them try. Most wind up looking like…idiots.
JimC says
Form/function. Timeless.
Matthew says
Speaking of practicality. Can someone explain to me what the purpose of ties are? They don’t serve any purpose I know off? When I have to wear them I always feel like I’m going to be hung.
JimC says
Blame the French. La Cravate.
Hate em.
Matthew says
Actually, the cravat seems to be based on something worn by Croatian mercenaries.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cravat
Though the one portrait of the portrait of the one Croatian guy looks more like a scarf and less like a frilly cravat or the nooses that we force people to wear.
J.F. Bell says
Inferior variant of the scarf, I would guess.
Of note…a few years back I ran across a box of my grandfather’s old dress shirts. Every shirt had a collar cut at least an inch or two larger than modern examples. So wearing a tie, while still something of an irritant, was markedly less a matter of strangulation. Not fun, I grant you, but nowhere near as miserable as contemporary off-the-rack shirts.
I’m not sure who decided that ties and collars needed to be watertight about the neck, but me and my size elevens would very much like to make their acquaintance someday.
JimC says
I feel very fortunate that my gig does not require the noose.
john roberts says
If only the buff coat had survived. The handsomest and most practical armor/ garment ever devised.
Black Tyrone says
The fine ladies of both North and South provided “Havelocks” for the men in 1861 . Shortly thereafter they were found more beneficial as coffee strainers.
One can view an example in Troiani’s Regimental Series plate 69th Irish Zouaves NYS Militia at Bull Run Popular in the Great Mutiny but not in America
lane batot says
If the male fashion industry had to depend on folks like me, they’d have gone totally extinct long ago. FUNCTION and DURABILITY are the two top things I consider in wearing choosing clothes(for the WINTER–in Summer I don’t wear much–at least when not at the workplace!). A CLOSE second coupla considerations are CAMOFLOUGE(“woods colors”–green, brown, gray, and maybe black at night), and comfort–not abiding sumthin’ rubbing me raw anywhere on the anatomy. Not much of a hat man myself, except in dire, cold inclinement weather. But then,I still gotta a good bit of hair left! Don’t much need a hat! At the most,I keep it outta my eyes with a headband of sorts–rather Apache-style(totally practical). An excellent headband is the short sleeves I ripoff my short sleeved shirts! But yeah,I’m NEKKID without the knife, too…..
JimC says
Apache!
lane batot says
……And incidently(reminded by the Custer Hat comment above–there was a good segment on Little Bighorn Day on CBS Sunday Morning this past Sunday. I had to work, so missed it when it aired, but you can see it on Youtube, which I did during my lunch hour at work today…..
lane batot says
…..AND, I couldn’t resist telling a story regarding one of the only times I’ve worn a TIE(indeed, perhaps the most useless and even potentially hazardous stupid wardrobe accessory ever invented)–if I’ve told it on here before(heck, I cain’t remember….),please bear with me…..I was just back from 3 months in the bush in Africa, and rather ragged looking even by my usual poor standards! I was desperate for a job–ANY JOB–and checking out virtually EVERYTHING in the want adds in the papers(back when they had such primitive means of advertising…..). One add was for the”Oneida Company”, or some such–the Oneida caught my eye of course–could it have anything to do with the Iroquois? They didn’t identify themselves further, but insisted one wear a tie to the interview. I had an old tie–bought for a suit my parents had to get me for attending funerals years previous,(I soon gave up “dressing up”for mourning soon afterwards)–so I put it on. But I couldn’t resist wearing it–uh, let’s say, more like a real old time Oneida might have! Yup, I wore it around my long hair like an injun headband! Right fetching, if I am recollectin’ correctly! And, I subsequently found out it was a sales job for silverware to newlyweds. Sheesh! You mighta already guessed, I DID NOT git hired!!!
Pat_H says
Hats! : http://lexanteinternet.blogspot.com/2014/10/caps-hats-fashion-and-perceptions-of.html
Boots! : http://lexanteinternet.blogspot.com/2016/09/cowboy-boots.html
http://lexanteinternet.blogspot.com/2016/11/munson-last-boots-or-how-i-became.html
Rompers? Revoke the man card of those dudes for sure.