Best Dressed

When we're cowboy shooting, yu want to look the part.  We're re-enactors, after all, and the CFDA has loose guidelines for participating.  We can, of course, dress in what I call modern working cowboy, which is boots, jeans, long sleeved shirt, and hat.  Those are the basic guidelines for the men.  Or, you can go whole-hog, with period correct from your hat down to your boots.

I haven't yet run into what I call a "stitch Nazi", and you can mix eras if you like.  Texas Rose, one of our Regulators, calls this "mostly period correct".  I, for example, have shown up at a shoot in normal modern boots, blue jeans, and an 1880s shirt.  My hat is a blend of two eras.  It's okay, we have fun with it, and we if you're sitting around, jawing with other members, you can learn a lot about what constitutes "period correct".  I recently learned that there were two styles of boots from that era, the 2-piece and the 3-piece.  I haven't shorted it all out in my mind, yet, but it's a lot of fun, and it lends color and style to the atmosphere of an event.

We normally have a banquet at the sanctioned shoots, and some folks go all-out on the dress.  The ladies like to sparkle and the men... even ZZ Top reminds us that every lady's crazy 'bout a sharp dressed man.  So, it's fun to dress for the banquet and this year, Zachary decided to play.  Milady helped him put together an outfit and when the judging was complete, Zach had snapped up Best Dressed Young Man.

They took a group picture, and the winners look great.

Good looking bunch, don't you think?  Of course, that's Zach at 3:00, who took fifth place in the Southern Territorials, and various other honors and recognition.

At 12:00, we have Skagway Sam, a shooter out of the North Texas club.  Skagway took 5th place overall in the Southern Territorials.  He's one of my gurus when it comes to re-enacting and has answered many questions about period dress.  Skagway is a friend, a gentleman, and a sharp competitor.

At 9:00, that lovely lady in the stunning hat, we call Slow Poke.  She's not walking heeled in this photo, but don't mistake her for someone to trifle with.  She's out of Virginia and is the Virginia State Champion, the reigning Four Corners Territorial Champion, and came to Texas with the express intention of competing for and winning the Southern Territorials.  She took home the trophy, the belt buckle and the concho.  Slow Poke is a gracious lady, a fierce competitor, and I'm proud to call her a friend.  I just hope I don't come up against her on the line.

I'm embarrassed that I can't remember the little gal's name who is standing down front, but I watched her shoot and her alias simply escapes me at the moment.   I know I saw her take a trophy during the awards.  She's got at least two; one for best dressed and one for gunfighting.

Gunfighting is a lot of fun, but there's no reason that we can't look nice while we compete.