How the West Was Worn

In How the West Was Worn, Holly George-Warren and Michelle Freedman offer a sartorial history of the American West. From the pre-20th-century origins of western style to Hollywood westerns, rodeo stars, cowboy crooners, ranchers and businessmen, good old boys from the Tetons to Dallas are presented in all their tooled, embroidered, sequined, fringed, 10-galloned, gun-toting finery. Accompanying an exhibit at the Autry Museum of Western Heritage in Los Angeles, this loving catalogue of inimitable western styles will have broad classic and kitsch appeal, depending on the audience. George-Warren (Garcia), editor of Rolling Stone Press, and Freedman, a clothing designer and writer, give engaging scholarly treatment to the clothes that help make the icon. (Oct.)