As much as his personality, a cowboy's manner of dress distinguished him from men engaged in other occupations. At first, many cowboys wore the remnants of their army attire—a raggedy gray Confederate uniform jacket or a pair of navy blue wool Union pants with a yellow stripe on their sides. As soon as they had a few dollars, however, cowboys invested in clothes that were more suitable for the job.

The "uniform" of a cowboy was, of course, designed to be practical. The work and the weather could be brutally hard on clothing, so what cowboys wore had to be rugged and well made. Not only that, but since cowboys had nowhere to store seasonal wardrobes while riding the range, their clothes had to be appropriate for both cold and hot weather.

The Fashionable Cowboy

Although durability and practicality were...