Westernwear: Postwar American Fashion and Culture

Sonya Abrego

Softcover | 19.05 x 2.03 x 24.51 cm | 304 pp

Bloomsbury | 2022 | 9781350147676

During the prosperous, forward-thinking era after the Second World War, a growing number of men, women, and children across the United States were wearing fashions that evoked the Old West. Westernwear: Postwar American Fashion and Culture examines why a sartorial style with origins in 19th-century agrarian traditions continued to be worn at a time when American culture sought balance between technocratic confidence in science and technology on one side, and fear and anxiety over global annihilation on the other.

By analysing well-known and rarely considered western manufacturers, this book revises the common perception that fashionable innovation came from the East coast and places western youth cultures squarely back in the picture. It connects the history of American working class dress with broader fashionable trends and discusses how and why Native American designs and representations of Native American people were incorporated broadly and inconsistently into the western visual vocabulary.

Setting westernwear firmly in context, Sonya Abrego addresses the incorporation of this iconic style into postwar wardrobes and popular culture, and charts the evolution of westernwear into a modern fashion phenomenon.

Full of engaging case studies and rich stories, and illustrated in full colour throughout, Westernwear is written with verve and concision, offering all those interested in Western fashion, American popular culture, and the ubiquitous jeans, a vital history to add to their bookshelves. Sonya Abrego is an instructor at Parsons, The New School for Design and The Fashion Institute of Technology, USA.

Sonya Abrego has unearthed a wealth of examples from the westernwear archives and
shares these through an expert and absorbing commentary. Generously illustrated and
accessibly written, this fascinating history of fashion at, and of, the frontier questions,
complicates and, ultimately, enriches." Professor Alison L. Goodrum, Norwich University of the Arts, UK

Impeccably researched and written with clarity, Westernwear broadens existing fashion history narratives and offers fresh insights on topics such as American sportswear, and important issues including appropriation and representation. Beautifully illustrated, this is an indispensable resource for scholars and students alike"
Rebecca C. Tuite, Fashion historian and author