Over the years, we have come to know how a Gay Cowboy acts, what he does, and how he is dressed. Because of its practicality, the working cowboy's wear has changed very little over the years. Cowboys dress roughly due to the nature of their work. Back then, a Cowboy seldom wore a coat because it retarded freedom of movement, and if he wore a vest, he rarely buttoned it because he believed that to do so would cause him to catch a cold. He wore chaps, not to be picturesque, but to protect his legs from underbrush and weather. There were two types of chaps used. "Closed" chaps were pulled on like pants or trousers and were, in most cases, similar to Indian leggings.. that is that each leg is a separate unit, frequently fringed. "Batwing" chaps, more popular, are wrapped around the legs and snapped into position. Three or four fasteners are used for this purpose and the legs are joined by a belt that fastened across the small of the back.

But when one thinks of a Gay Cowboy... he envisions the marlboro man on a horse with his cowboy hat. One man is now known as the inventor of the cowboy hat in 1865, a son of a Philadelphia hat maker, by the name of John B. Stetson. As the story goes, Stetson and some companions went west to seek the benefits of a drier climate. During a hunting trip in Kansas, Stetson amused his friends by showing them how he could make cloth out of fur without weaving. Stetson used the fur from hides collected on the hunting trip. Kneading the fur and working it with his hands, dipping it into boiling water, spreading it out, kneading it, and dipping it again, he created a soft, smooth piece of felt. Using a technique that has been known since the beginning of modern civilization, Stetson amazed his friends by using the only material he had at hand--fur. Stetson then made a unusually large hat out of this fur-felt. He then wore the hat for the remainder of his hunting trip, at first as a joke, and then grew fond of the hat for its protection from the weather, shade from the sun. He and other cowboys of the west ended up liking the idea so well that Stetson soon manufactured and sold a hat true to his original idea.

The cowboy hat quickly became a regular and necessary part of the gay cowboy's daily wear. The wide brim made quick work of fanning a fire. It could be used to whip a horse, wave to distant riders, and yes, even lend an air of grace and prestige to the man beneath its brim. And, of course, during inclement weather, the cowboy hat served as a very effective umbrella.

While the cowboy hat remained a universal image of the American West, there came to be a kind of code to the particular style, shape, and size. Every cowboy hat makes a statement about the tough individuality at the center of every pioneer that carved a life from the new frontier. With a subtle adjustment to the brim and a couple of extra dents in the crown, a man could indicate that he was from the northern regions of Nevada or the rough plains of Texas, the wind-whipped ranges of the Rockies or the low deserts of New Mexico. Today the cowboy hat continues to be seen as the last vestige of apparel of a young and untamed American nation.

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