Taos A to Z Excerpt: Vest

Definition: “a close-fitting waist-length garment, typically having no sleeves or collar and buttoning down the front.” Origin: King Charles II introduced the vest (or waistcoat) in England by Royal Proclamation on October 7, 1666. It was a simple straight cut, close-fitting garment made from black cloth with a white silk lining. Promoted personally by the King, it was soon popular with everyone. However, the political purpose was to undermine French fashion influence in England, and the vest’s simple lines was meant to defy the extravagant dictates of Versailles. The vest was based on a style brought back to England by visitors to the Persian court of Shah Abbas. It became sleeveless around the 1750s, and the garment eventually made its way to the New World.

When young men began traveling out West in the 1860s, they brought the current “highfalutin” Eastern fashions with them, which included tailored trousers, suitcoats and vests. They simply added the Western accents, such as a cowboy hat, bandana scarf, and a gunbelt to the mix. You then had the “gentleman cowboy” look, so well depicted in the films, “Silverado,” “Wyatt Earp,” and “Tombstone.” There were also “western style” vests, made from suede and leather, with elaborate fringing. This was more the “mountain man” or “outlaw” look, also depicted in western movies.

The fringed, Western-style vest reached an extremely high level of popularity in the late 1960s, when it became almost a uniform for a generation of Hippies. Today, it is worn by people of all ages, both male and female. Whether it is used for actual daily wear, or reserved for special occasions (and/or trips to Taos and Santa Fe), it is, without a doubt, a fun fashion that has survived over the centuries. ~Jean

Taos A to Z Excerpt: Duster

The original dusters were full-length, light-colored canvas or linen coats worn by horsemen to protect their clothing from trail dust. These dusters were typically slit up the back to hip level for ease of wear on horseback. At the turn of the 20th century, both men and women wore dusters to protect their clothes when riding in open motorcars on dirt roads. Western horsemen's dusters gained renewed popularity in the late 20th century, primarily through the J. Peterman catalog, and are now a standard item of Western wear. They figured little in Western films, until Sergio Leone reintroduced them in his movies “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” and “Once Upon a Time in the West.” The duster was also worn by some of the characters in the movie “Silverado” and the TV mini-series “Lonesome Dove.” ~Jean

Taos A to Z Excerpt: Long Johns

Definition: “underwear with closely fitted legs that extend to the wearer's ankles, often with a long-sleeved top.” Long underwear, often called “long johns,” is a newer style of two-piece underwear with long legs and long sleeves that is normally worn during cold weather. It offers an advantage over the more old-fashioned version of long johns or “union suit,” in that the wearer can choose to use either the top, bottom, or both parts depending on how cold it is. The one-piece long johns, traditionally made of red flannel was buttoned all the way up the front and had a button-up rear “access hatch” so the wearer could eliminate bodily waste without undressing.

Depending on the size of the suit, some have the maximum of 11 buttons on the front, to be fastened through buttonholes from the neck down to the groin area. This warm and practical garment remained in common use in North America into the 20th century. As its popularity waned, it became chiefly working men’s wear. In the mid-1900s, it was not uncommon for rural men to wear the same long johns continuously all week, or even all winter. Normally, no other type of underwear was worn with it. One of the major events of the spring was when the union suits were removed, washed, and put away for the summer. In films and television, wearing long johns was a sign that the character was completely out of touch with the modern world. For example, a funny scene in “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” has the six brothers refusing to take off their long johns for their older brother’s new bride to wash. ~Jean

A Bit of Personal Long Johns Trivia: With our inclusion of the term “long johns” in our Taos A to Z directory, let it not be confused with the delicious donut-like dessert called by the same name. When I was a young girl, one of our favorite treats was the “long john” (donut dough bar) with chocolate or maple icing. My mother would get them from the bakery of a local discount market called “Big Giant.” And occasionally, my aunt would treat my cousin and I to a chocolate long john and a Grapette (in an icy-cold, tall glass bottle) when we would run errands in El Reno, Oklahoma. Although they taste exactly like donuts, the preference for a long john over a donut had to do with the fact that a long john was more substantial, and therefore, more satisfying than the average, somewhat puny donut. ~Jean

See the complete glossary of terms, definitions and descriptions of everything Taos at Taos A to Z