Wear this, not that- George Jones edition.

The Possum played New Orleans this month, and (of course) we went and (of course) we dressed up for it. These are custom jackets made by yours truly. You can get you something similar through Ellie Monster.

Followed by the 'not that': She gets a pass because the show was on a Sunday, it's football season, and this is New Orleans- black and gold fluer de lis shirts are to be expected. But the guy? Dang him for making me look at that garbage all night. 

Tuesday Reality Check

Today's reality check is an absolutely stunning Manuel shirt. It's been a long time since I've run across a shirt that I want this bad (hey, you all know my birthday is in a couple weeks, right?). This shirt is timeless. You could have worn it 60 years ago, you could wear it today, and unless current western trends manage to completely wipe out any sense of western in western wear, you'll be able to wear it 60 years from now too. 

These pictures leave a lot to be desired and the lack of pants on the mannequin is horribly distracting, but lawdy, what a shirt!

Hippy cowboy ugliness.

I think this shirt'd get your butt kicked by Chris Ledoux's buddies. (Link is to his song Hippies in Calgary, a very silly story song).

Here's another WTF contribution from Teskeys where you can buy it for a mere $245. Their product description sums it up well enough. Yuck.

Long sleeve sport shirt with vintage Haight and Ashbury imagery. Embroidered words I AM ONLY A BIRD IN A GILDED CAGE A BEAUTIFUL BIRD TO SEE in front of shirt.These words are also sprinkled throughout but with color-blocking effect. 

Great brands gone bad

"Ariat" in an 80's metal band font. That's... interesting. And a decorative zipper. That sure completes the look. What that look is, I'm not sure.

I'm not a fan of the big square toes on cowboy boots, never have been- but that's probably because I have big feet and I don't like styles that make them look bigger. I think they're just fine on other people.

I've had several pairs of Ariats in this life. All have been my practical around-the-barn boots, and they've all been great and have taken a ton of abuse. Very comfortable boots too. But dang, Ariat, you're a great company. Why make garbage like this and dirty your name?

Saturday Shootout

Which is western? Answer after the jump-

Yuck!

Teskey's is one of those stores who aren't too bad when it comes to the things we complain about around here. They have some bad stuff, but it's outweighed by the good for the most part. They carry quite a few brands that aren't traditional western wear, but generally speaking, they pull good items from these brands.

So who was smoking what when they decided to sell this mess made by Acrobat? And to sell it for $93?! That's insane. Not only is it not at all western, it's also not at all flattering, not for anyone. That is one ugly ass shirt.

Nice western from mainstream companies

A few days ago, we featured some pretty decent looking western shirts made by Affliction, and over the years at my store, I've run across nice western shirts from many unexpected brands. Does it irk me sometimes that the nicest shirts I find are often from companies who aren't really making western wear? A little bit. It seems silly to me, but the fact remains that most brands have put out some kind of western shirt at some point or another and some of those have been very nice shirts. Many of them are making nicer western shirts than western wear companies are. Who are these companies? Today we'll look at a few brands you'll find in nearly every single shopping mall in the US.

The Gap


I run across these fairly often in my store. They've all been very well made, simple, plain and classically western. They usually have a style or two each season and I think that's been true for quite a few years. I've never run across a Gap western shirt that I haven't liked.

A step down from Gap, Old Navy has also put out a ton of nice western shirts. And I've had a handful of really nice ones from Banana Republic too.

Express

Pretty much the same story as the Gap. Well made, simple, straight forward western shirts. Nicely tailored and constructed.

Guess

Guess doesn't currently have any adult western shirts on their website, but trust me, I've seen a bunch and they're nice.

They've got this incredibly cute kids shirt on their website right now. Love it.

Tuesday Reality Check

Cowboy versus "cowboy"

Cross on Monday.

 Today we're digging out manure from Fort Western. Just like every other western wear store out there, there is no shortage of crosses. And no shortage of really strange crosses. This first item, at first glance I thought it was a blingy cross studded scarf. But oh no, it's not. It's a vest. Made by Ranch Royalty, Fort says it's a stylish lightweight draped vest and that it'll elongate your torso. Unfortunately, no one is going to notice your elongated torso should you decide to wear this 'about as tailored as a potato sack' vest because they'll be too busy trying to figure out WTF you are wearing.

And though I didn't think it was possible, you'll look even worse going than you do coming- this vest goes from WTF to just plain ugly on the back. It makes this slender, pretty little model look like a refrigerator. And arguably, most refrigerators are actually a bit sexier than this, because at least they aren't so unfortunate as to be decorated with big gaudy wings and a cross.  

Let's see what else Ranch Royalty has to offer at Fort Western.

There's this. Another blatant Affliction rip off. Great.

Fort Western has lots of stuff like this. This one is made by Rock and Roll Cowgirl, a brand I'm coming to believe wouldn't recognize a western motif even if you tattooed it on their foreheads backwards and made 'em stare at it for a lifetime of brushing their teeth.

And let's close out the day with this last item from Fort Western. At 14.99, it's priced almost as cheaply as it looks, but that doesn't make it a bargain. I won't even call this one an Affliction knock off. It's a knock off of a Walmart knock off of Affliction.

Haven't I seen you somewhere before?

I'm sure it will surprise no one that I'm a big fan of Regretsy. I might have seen this very item on there, it looked familiar when I first saw it today... If not, I've certainly seen gobs of similar stuff there.

I stumbled upon this item on Modern Cowgirl.

It's out of stock there, but I can tell you lots of other places to buy it. But as always, the real issue at hand is not where you can get this thing, but why would someone include it in their "western/cowgirl" store? I know I'm not the only one who thinks this pendant has nothing at all to do with things western, no one else who's selling it dares to call it that.

Etsy #1 called it a vintage sixties necklace.
Etsy #2 also it vintage, fashionable and useful.
Etsy #3 calls it 70's or 80's vintage.

And so on. Only a crazy person would call this western. There is nothing. NOTHING. about it that makes it western.