There are few other examples in American culture where a way of dressing is so linked to an identity and way of life. American Cowboy culture is identifiable around the world and has expanded to mean so much more than a simple cattle herder. At one time western wear was a way of life; the cowboy hat, jeans, pointy boots and uniquely western shirts for men meant that a he earned his pay by working on a farm or ranch feeding livestock, branding cattle, mending fences, clearing brush and moving livestock to a greener pasture. A hardworking cowboy knew how to read the weather, sling a gun, light a fire, bandage an injury and survive out on the open range with a buck knife, a little luck and not much else.
Cowboys are not defined by particular words, but by a steely gaze, clenched jaw and unique fashion sense. If a man wore western clothes, it meant that everything in his wardrobe served a function to his job. A hat to protect from the sun and rain, a bandana to clean the sweat from his brow and keep the dust storm out of his face, a pair of high top pointed boots to keep his feet in the stirrups, sturdy jeans and western shirts for men to hold up to the long hours and days on horseback and all kinds of weather, snags and brush. Western wear was made to survive anything the day might bring, and the definitive style has translated into the ultimate look for the hardworking, freedom loving American.
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With the Spaghetti western, Hollywood took cowboy culture into the popular spotlight and suddenly everyone wanted to have the cowboy look (minus the cows of course). Western clothes took on a romantic and in fact cliché representation of the honorable, lonesome man on the range, beating down malicious thugs and riding off into the sunset. Western wear and the cowboy look is a genre into itself and look translates across a whole range of individuals. Bankers, lawyers, real estate brokers, fashion models and the kid up the block who thinks a cowboy hat looks cool all want to tap into the cowboy mystique.
Yet even with all the efficiencies and comforts of modern life there are still people who would rather spend a day out in the pasture mending a fence than pushing paper confined to a cubicle in a high-rise office building. People who want functional western shirts for men don't define themselves by their western clothes, but the lifestyle it represents, and the blood and sweat that is washed out of them at the end of a hard day's work.