Wear this, not that.

Wear this: I really love this Rockmount style (buy it from Sputnik Ranch because they're awesome).

Not this: Rock and Roll Cowboy available from Sheplers. 

NSFW, lol

OMG, Sheplers. Panhandle Slim. WTF?!?!

 So, at first, I just saw another over done, scrolly monstrosity of shirt in this thing by Panhandle slim. But, always curious, I had to look closer. And I laughed out loud at this one, for real.

But perhaps this design was created as a western wear Rorschach test. What do you see?

Perhaps if you're pure of heart and clean of mind, you won't see this as lady bits. Me? I think it looks like a close up of a very hairy woman's genitals, spread eagle.

I can only hope that it was as intentional as it looks to be and that the designer did this as commentary on the douches who'd buy and wear it. That thought makes me smile.

Tuesday Reality Check

Say you like the way scrolly decorations look. Sometimes they can be quite pretty, right? The problem arises when companies go completely crazy with them- they think, if one scroll sells, why not put 500 of them on a shirt, and everything goes to hell. Luckily, there are shirts out there that showcase that scrolly styling that aren't over the top and hideous.

Here's a shirt by Cattlelac Ranch (available at Sheplers) that has that urban style translated into an actual, recognizable western shirt, and I think that's just fine. It does have very current and trendy components in the embellishments- but they're tasteful, controlled and logically placed and the end result is a nice western shirt.

And here's one along the same lines made by Panhandle Slim. It works.

Mondays make me cross.

And today we have more garbage from Sheplers. Every single shirt on the linked page there belongs on this blog. They're all terrible in that same ol' Affliction kind of way.

This one is made by Rock & Roll Cowboy, and I guess if by "Rock & Roll" you mean "Nickleback" and by "Cowboy" you mean douchebag, then it's an aptly named brand. Of course it's a 'best seller' over there.

Now, I gather that Rock & Roll cowboy is Panhandle Slim. Which is alright- I wouldn't want these things so closely associated with my company's historic name if I was in charge of Panhandle Slim either. Going forward, we'll call these by their labels as stated by retailers- if they call them Rock and Roll, we'll go with that, if they call them Panhandle Slim, we'll go with that. Same thing with other brands where this exists.

Here we have an interesting contribution made by Petrol- the description reads- 'Urban cowboy approved Petrol apparel stands out on country guys!'

Guess it would, too. I always stare when I see someone walking down the street with a huge cross poorly photoshopped onto their shirt, don't you?

I'm not 100% sure this one belongs on a cross day- is it a tribal cross? Is it a tribal dagger? Is it a tribal goat leaping out of a tribal hole? Hard to say. But it is, without a doubt, up pretty high on the list of terrible shirts Panhandle Slim has put out.

Saturday Shootout

Which one is "western"?

Answer after the break

WTF?

Oh man. Here's another WTF item you can buy from Sheplers made by Cripple Creek. There's so much wrong with this dress I'm not even sure where to start. Definitely not western. Definitely not country. The graphic is trendy-ish, in that way we see so much of around here, with those lovely foil accents. But the way that lace up the side is screaming hair metal and the distressed vaguely acid washed look of the whole thing puts this dress in a class by itself, a class that could perhaps be called 'meth-addled trashy fashion 101.'

This is one Cripple Creek I ain't goin' up. In fact, I'd be goin' on a run away from this hideous skanky creation. I'm not at all familiar with this brand, so I can only hope this was a solitary bad release- the world doesn't need anything else of this nature, ever.

I don't even...

Most of the outfits I've run across are urban with a country label stitched in. I guess this thing is too, but in this one, Panhandle Slim scooted over to Hot Topic circa 2001 for ideas instead of raiding the Affliction/Ed Hardy closet, and that was a baffling decision. Enjoy. It too can be purchased from sheplers

Saturday Shootout

Which is western?

Answer after the break-

Introduction

Hello folks, my name is Ellie Lahey, I have a vintage clothing store in New Orleans' French Quarter that has a heavy focus on western wear. I also have a clothing line called Ellie Monster of "recreated" vintage western wear- we take plain western shirts and embroider my designs on them and have a lot of fun doing it. I'm obviously not a total purist style wise. I put some pretty out there designs on some of my shirts and do things that many purists would frown upon. That being said, I keep them true to what they are- western shirts. The same can not be said for much of what is being sold as western wear these days.

This blog will point out the questionable and bad decisions many western wear companies are making, draw parallels to the non-western items they are so blatantly ripping off, and will probably contain a generally negative look at current western wear. By this, I hope that you'll take a step back and reconsider what is acceptably western and what is not. If you, as a fashion challenged consumer, want to wear some of the hideous creations you'll find in this blog, that's on you, but real cowboys and cowgirls don't want to look like they just stepped off the Jersey Shore.

Now, the dress that irked me enough to start this blog-

This thing can be found at Sheplers.com and is made by Wrangler- one of the biggest western wear companies of all time. They dare to suggest that you 'flaunt your cowgirl style' by wearing this. What about this says "cowgirl"?

The busy graphic isn't western. The cut of the dress isn't western. The 'silver tone stud' decoration isn't western. This dress is nothing but a cheap looking, poorly executed Affliction rip off thrown on a model wearing cowboy boots so they can market it to western wear shoppers. The graphic has a cross, wings, roses and a lot of noise- how exciting and unique, just like everything made by Affliction and dozens of other similar brands.