Western Style
by Elizabeth Clair Flood

Number 1: If you haven't seen Madonna's latest video, the Big Cowboy rhinestone belt buckle ($295) is the hip look in Hollywood. Kippy's: (619) 435-6218.   It's been a dozen years since I graduated from Georgetown, packed up my Honda Accord Conestoga-style, and made the move from Washington to Wyoming. Looking back, I think it's safe to say that when I arrived in Jackson Hole, I didn't have a clue about the ways of the West. Not only had I spent my college days inside the Beltway, but my sophisticated San Francisco upbringing was of little help either. Brightly colored cocktail dresses from Saks and debutante accessories for black-tie balls were patently useless in the Wild West. In an effort to fit in, I added an Indiana Jones-style hat to my collection of Levi's. I put on a pair of hideous red cowboy boots with pointy toes. And I played Patsy Cline as I drove the country roads to and from my log cabin. Needless to say, I stood out like a dude. Number 11: Nothing transforms a regular gal into cowgirl more than a good hat. Try on a Stetson or a Rand ($100 and up), or go all out and order one from 1992 Cowgirl Hall of Fame honoree Sheila Kirkpatrick ($175-500). Montana Mad Hatters: (406) 684-5869.   Since then I've not only fallen in love with this open country, but I've also become intrigued with the cowgirl character. A blend of mythical glamour and gritty reality, her style was fanciful as well as practical. Cowgirl trendsetters from the 1910s and1920s performed in Wild West shows and competed in rodeos. They impressed me with their big hats, bright red lipstick, handmade costumes, silk scarves, and tall cowboy boots. A cowgirl wasn't a floozy, and, more importantly for me, she wasn't a dude either. I learned all this and a lot more from my septuagenarian role model, bulldogger Corinne Williams. Corinne wears blue jeans and keeps her pigtails tied up with leather bows. She summed things up best when she said, "Rodeoing is not the PTA." Number 15: Honor the Queen of Cowgirls by listening to Dale Evans' Queen of the West Greatest Hits ($16). The Happy Trails Gift Shop: (760) 245-5503. Thanks to Corinne and many other Western women past and present, I've been able to ditch most of my preppy persona and become something much more exciting—a cowgirl. I've acquired a log cabin, a horse, a pickup truck, a dog, a collection of Hank Williams tunes, and a wardrobe full of cowgirl clothing. (Did I mention my husband?) While I don't have the nerve to ride a bucking bronc or the stamina to be a rancher, I identify with the cowgirl spirit and have enjoyed playing the part. I'm still a dude, but I'd like to think I'm better dressed. Having said all this, I have only one regret: Why didn't any of my cowgirl heroines share their style and these Western essentials with me 12 years ago?

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