The cowboy hat is a high-crowned, wide-brimmed hat best known as the defining piece of attire for the North American cowboy. Today it is worn by many people, and is particularly associated with ranch workers in the western and southern United States, western Canada and northern Mexico, with country-western singers, and for participants in the North American rodeo circuit. It is recognized around the world as part of Old West lore. The shape of a cowboy hat's crown and brim are often modified by the wearer for fashion and to protect against weather.
It is an item of apparel that can be worn in any corner of the world, and receive immediate recognition as part of North American cowboy culture.
The first western model was the open-crowned "Boss of the Plains," and after that came the front-creased Carlsbad, destined to become “the” cowboy style. The high-crowned, wide-brimmed, soft-felt western hats that followed are intimately associated with the cowboy image.
Read more about Cowboy Hat: Design, History, Modern Designs, "Ten Gallon" Hat
Famous quotes containing the words cowboy and/or hat:
“The cowboy ... is well on his way to becoming a figure of magnificent proportions. Bowlegged and gaunt, he stands as the apotheosis of manly perfection. Songs, novels, movies, magazines, and operettas have made the least inquiring of us well acquainted with his extraordinary courage, unfailing gallantry, and uncanny skill with gun or lariat. The farmer, meanwhile, sits stolidly on his tractor, bereft of romance and adventure.”
—For the State of Kansas, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“It’s no go the Government grants, it’s no go the elections, Sit on your arse for fifty years and hang your hat on a pension.”
—Louis MacNeice (1907–1963)