Cathy Get Your Gun!

Friends, thank you so much for the warm -- some might even say excessive -- welcome you gave Michael yesterday.  We definitely will have him back.

I see Male Pattern Boldness becoming more than a mere sewing blog, but something akin to the ill-fated reality show Britney & Kevin: Chaotic.   It's always fun to get the real story behind the celebrity facade, no?  Why not our celebrity facade?

Anyway, you'll be pleased to know that my cold has now moved into the draining stage -- never pleasant, but a sign things are winding down at last.

Now then, readers, how do you feel about Western garb?

It's no secret I'm fond of Western shirts, having just treadled myself one last month.  I've always had a fondness for cowboy kitsch too: Indian jewelry, Sons of the Pioneers songs, cap guns -- that sort of thing.  (I do draw the line at the boots, though, which don't flatter a short man.)

I love how Hollywood used to throw stars like Joan Crawford and Barbara Stanwyck into Westerns (usually when they were on the way down), which often led to over-the-top camp classics like The Furies or Johnny Guitar.  

No one looked as comfortable with a holster on her hip as Joan Crawford.

That's why I was so delighted to find this vintage pattern on Etsy the other day, from 1947.  Shirt, pants AND bolero!

I love that it can go full-out Dale Evans (left) or more in a Katharine Hepburn Philadelphia Story direction (right).  Versatile!

I think Cathy is going to love this look and it will give her a chance to explore the more aggressive side of her personality she's had to suppress in those girly-girl outfits I've been making her wear lately.  There's more than a little Joan Crawford in Cathy...and Broderick Crawford too!

Readers, do you wear Western wear?

Do you consider it politically incorrect, given that most Westerns are about slaughtering native peoples, or liberating as they often put a girl in pants and gave her a rifle?  

Or is it just a fun sporty look?

Do you draw the line at fringe and rhinestones, or are you willing to go full-out Queen of the Rodeo?

Do you think it's a little too much for anyone outside of San Antonio?  Is this strictly an American thing, Euros, Kiwis, Canadians, et al?

Can Cathy pull this off?

Hope so!