European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 7, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                              Real cowboys ont Wear jeans clothing maker s fabrics and designs True to old West by Paul Dean los Angeles times Eal cowboys growl slim Jim Rodgers and Wahoo Allen Wah did t Wear polyester shirts with Pearl snaps. Nor leather vests. And  busters wore Levi s. You got that right Pilgrim. Early cowhand wore what a Man had to Wear uniform jackets from both arguments of the civil War brogans that migrated with Boston carpetbaggers Farmers bib overalls cavalry Slouch hats and Canvas Duck pants. And dress shirts that had t been attached to celluloid collars since Grant s inauguration. Then about 1870 and using profits from their first cattle drives up the Chisholm Trail cowboys dumped hand me Downs and bought durable functional duds that wrote a period fashion statement. Vests were worn As an outer garment because they did t restrict Arm movement when living atop a horse says Rodgers 50, who has done a ton of living atop a horse. They were made of Wool for warmth and usually had four  where else could a mounted Cowboy pack a pocket watch knife tobacco Pouch a month s  in Silver dollars Lucky Bullet and tally books shirts were made of mattress ticking or sheeting because they were Tough fabrics and readily available says Wah 57, whose father sold such dry goods at his Indian trading Post in Yuma Ariz shirts were four Button pullovers to keep out wind and dust and their tails came Down to the knees.". That was because that one garment had to work triple shifts As a dress shirt work shirt and night shirt. It is this knowledge and precision As fastidious As printing fancy Dan fabrics on rollers built when the Kansas Pacific was still reaching West that keep Rodgers and Wah saddled to Success As Wah maker re creators of unisex clothing from original designs and authentic fabrics of the old West. Success the Oscar winning Aura of unforgiven came from its Story cast acting and the dark grungy look of its actors. Much of that real mood and All of Clint Eastwood s clothes from ticking shirts to Canvas pants were by Wah maker. Costumer Glenn Wright said he cast the clothes because they were authentic had a Nice look were sturdy. And to make shirts like that would have Cost four times As much made from 100 percent Cotton As were their Pioneer ancestors Wah maker clothes have even escaped their Niche and crossed Over to appear As casual Wear for men and women at the Beach on sailboats and ski slopes. Meanwhile Back at the ranch Rodgers says Wah maker Are now the work clothes of Choice for professional hard herding cowboys from Oregon to California they like the sturdy fabric. Also the tradition it  and that tradition says Patrick Nicholson period. Historian and a 23-year costume consultant of Western movies could t be More accurate. \ Wah s clothes Are terribly authentic Tigh pwn to their fabrics buttons and thread work says Nicholson. All of which is an impressive stretch from Onajean s idea that birthed a Gamble that rebuilt a weaken / apparel company into a $5 million a year  in 1988, the future looked particularly Skinny for Wah grandson of a chinese immigrant who came to the United states in the 1880s" As Cook and then caterer to Northwestern logging Camps. True he had parlayed a University of California eos Angeles Industrial design degree into sole ownership of Grunwald Marx a 50-year-old Phoenix sportswear manufacturer. But he was being undersold outta neutered and slowly beaten to death by asian imports. Wah examined this rag Trade of his. Why were world designers whether planning automobiles Polo shirts or toasters looking to Europe and Japan for fashions Why was t anybody exploring the american Back Yard which had produced authentic world standards such As Zippo lighters and Harley Davidson motorcycles and Levi s and Stetson so i looked at the Cowboy and the West in particular that period just after the civil War Wah recalls. That s when Eastern kitchens wanted Western beef. So War veterans teen age runaways remittance men minor continued on Page 20 Warrer brat Morgan Freeman left and Clint Eastwood have the authentic look in  los Antolos times Cowboy pants were held up by leather suspenders and fitted around the Waist by a Back strap cinch. Los Angeles times Jim Rodgers Lef Tallen Wah and a company associate Back Model some Owah maker s old West gear. The Western look in Europe by Effie Batman staff writer sailors just love to be cowboys. Or so it seems when the Fleet is in at Naples Italy according to Rosario Ruotolo head bartender at the the scuttlebutt enlisted club. Thursday night is Western night and that Means a Stampede for Texas twisters and the Texas two step. More than half the crowd wears Stetson jeans boots and big Belt buckles said Ruotolo nicknamed Rusty by the regulars. However he added no spurs Are  they like to play the role said Rusty and that includes the italians in what he Calls Cowboy Oltaire. The Naples native has tended bar at the club since 1977 and As far As he s concerned the country Western music nights like those at most military clubs these Days Are More popular than Ever. Even the seafaring cowboys of the aircraft Carrier Theodore Roosevelt spent some of their recent Liberty in the swing of things. Like so Many americans in Europe they have found that Cowboy gear can be an Eye Catcher and conversation starter. So when the nearest Down Home general store is an Ocean or so away where can a weekend cowpoke. Rustle up some clothes american Western style duds stick out like a sore thumb in areas like Italy and Navy exchanges do not Stock much More than Dingo boots. In fact americans Are generally discouraged by military commands from wearing clothing \ that might make them easy targets for Bush Ackers. In Western Europe army and air Force exchanges carry almost everything from boots to Bolos. Although varying from store to store their stocks include wrangler Cowboy Cut jeans and Brush Popper shirts along with Rock mount ranch Wear shirts skirts pants and dresses. The cafes folks have also ordered up a passel More for next year s Spring and summer collection. Stetson Are on regular order. Because of the popularity exchanges make special buys from time to time to support Community Frontier and Western programs. They include brands like Tony Lama Luccese Justin and Diamond j. Boots Are by Acme and Dan Post As Well As Dingo and come sized for mom pop and Young uns. Sorry no spurs. Memorabilia surrounding television shows like the Lone Ranger Are bringing in big Bucks at auctions. Places like bloody Lane at Antietam Battlefield Park md., Are drawing renewed attention thanks to a new interest in events during and after the civil War. Interest in the West is Rooming Byj Annescott los Angeles times Hen Ted Hake of York pa., held an auction of Cowboy hero collectibles this year Lone Ranger Billfold Roy Rogers ranch lanterns you get the idea someone forked Over a whopping $173 for a pair of hop Afong Cassidy boy s underpants. At another auction House one of Annie Oakley s guns recently sold for $108,000. Cowboy poets Are turning up on the tonight show Western history literature and film Are booming. And television is awash in documentaries about cowboys cattle drives and other Frontier lore. Americans Are in the throes of another infatuation with things Western. From Best Sellers to Oscar winners to gourmet Cactus the West is Back again As a Force in popular culture As Well As literary and intellectual life. To some extent the surge might have been predicted. Fascination with the West waxes and wanes on a regular Cycle. The generation raised on ranch furniture and Hoss Cartwright pushing 40, is revisiting its childhood haunts. But something else is at work Many observers believe. Interest in the West follows shifts in the National mood just As Western movies went out during the depression came Back in the 1950s and were banished after Vietnam. This time experts credit a National crisis of Confidence a Post cold War end of the millennium Funk. Knowingly or not they say americans Are rooting through the attic trunk of their history in search of a renewed sense of identity and purpose. For some of them the West simply symbolizes a simpler life. It caters to fantasies often escapist particularly among White men at a time when the  As they once knew it is in be fiddling flux. For others the West is a Way of exploring the past in a new Light. Historians have turned the spotlight recently to new themes. Women minorities and the environmental Price of economic Progress have become the focus of much Western history literature television and film. As a nation we Are reassessing some very Basic questions about race gender class family what the role of government should be in our lives where we think we re going As a society said Richard Slotkin director of. R american studies at Wesleyan University. At such a moment of crisis any culture goes Back to its traditions its myths said Slotkin the author of gun fighter nation the myth of the Frontier in twentieth Century America. It takes them All out of storage and dusts them off and looks them Over again. And hopefully it rewrites  the evidence is everywhere. In Hollywood after a drought that dragged on for two decades at least 16 westerns and Frontier movies Are reported to be in development an outpouring fuelled in part by the Success of Kevin Costner s 1990 revisionist Western dances with wolves and Clint Eastwood s Oscar winning 1992 film unforgiven. One of the new projects is a film about Davey Crockett by David Zucker a director of comedies including air plane and naked gun who first encountered Crockett on television in 1955, Courtesy of Walt Disney. His collection of Crockett Memorabilia now ranges from letters to a 1950s lunch Box. We re just doing the adult version said Zucker who intends to include the adult themes in Crockett s life such As his politics and marriages. We saw the legend on to and in movies. For me personally i have a great curiosity to find out what the actual facts Are.". Television meanwhile is teeming with documentaries. One series the real West was the highest rated show Ever on the arts and entertainment Cable network when it premiered last fall. Hot on its heels came another series the wild West linked to a special Issue of life Magazine. The documentary flood owes its origins in part to the civil War the hugely successful 1990 series which received the highest ratings Ever for a series on Public television and appears to have dispelled programmers prejudices that history makes meager entertainment. Ric Burns who co produced the series with his brother Ken has embarked on a four hour series on Western history from the Gold Rush to wounded knee scheduled to be aired on Public broadcasting stations next year. His brother is doing a 10-hour series on the West scheduled for airing in 19%. Sales of country music much of it Western Are growing faster than any other category of music. The phenomenal crossover Success of country Singer Garth Brooks has helped fuel the explosion along with a Boom in country radio stations dance clubs and videos. In publishing there is a much discussed flowering of Western writing likened by some to the Southern literary Renaissance in the 1930s. Among the new authors Are american indians mexican americans asians and women increasingly one common topic is environmental destruction. The traditional Frontier novel is changing too editors say. It is longer its characters Are stronger its history is. More accurate. Longtime publishers of Western novels including Bantam and Berkley have upped their production. Western histories too Are increasingly popular among mainstream publishers. 18 the stars and stripes saturday August 7, 1993 the stars and stripes 19