21 thoughts on “SNARK WEEK: Westerns

  1. I would try Hell on Wheels. The clothing is actually pretty good. There really aren’t hairpin shortages. And some SERIOUS SERIOUS eye candy with the leading man.

    1. Agree with the eye candy! Deadwood is also pretty good, it really illustrates the social hierarchy with clothes, as far as fabric, trim and who has a multitude of outfit changes. As far as accuracy everyone, including the whores wears a chemise under their corsets and the women even have historically accurate armpit hair.
      Not to mention the show is pretty great in itself.

  2. Yeah, for the most part, westerns suck when it comes to costuming. But… Jodie Foster’s costumes in Maverick are gorgeous. That blue dress is stunning.

  3. Does the fact that the dress in High Noon is supposed to be her wedding dress, imported from “back East” help at all? I honestly don’t know.

    1. I know what it’s supposed to be – but it’s a terrible interpretation of that, what with the bullet bra & all. Compare to the photo of Cerissa Mott above & note the differences!

  4. I think for Snark week, to add to the context of the picture showing
    My Darling Clementine (1946)

    That is Linda Darnell whose playing a supposedly Latin literally named “Chihuahua”… so yeah we all know what the costumers were doing for that one

    Especially if you see the movie and screenshots of what she was wearing

      1. Oh yeah I completely agree, sorry I was using a sarcastic tone but forget the emojis so read it in an exasperrated tone.

        Also do acknowledge that the way I typed it does come off a bit douchy

    1. In all fairness they may be referring to her point of origin (Chihuahua being a Mexican state, as well as a dog breed) in much the same way certain characters are referred to as ‘Texas’.

  5. Re: the photo from The Furies (1950), she’s wearing a split skirt, aka a divided skirt, for riding. It was a real garment used for riding by women out West. Probably not accurate for 1870s, but it was common from the 1890s through the 1920s. And of course the rest of the outfit is out of place.

  6. Re: Zandy’s Bride (1974), I haven’t seen the film but from the still it doesn’t look like they are pants, but rather leather chaps, possibly of the “batwings” style.

      1. I can see why you’d say that from the way they read in that one still– but in other promotional stills and the film itself (available on YouTube) it’s unquestionably big, flappy leather chaps worn over standard straight-leg pants that show underneath whenever Gene Hackman moves.

        (However, Liv Ullmann’s “mail-order bride” character does wear baggy, wide-legged “bloomer”-type fabric pants in a couple of scenes where she’s trying to ride a horse.)

  7. I thought that American Primeval was quite accurate regarding women’s clothes and showing a strong feminine character without falling into the trap into anachronistic feminism. But I guess that’s still boring costume-wise ;)

    1. Sarah Lorraine gave Tombstone a lot of love in 2019, can find it via the search button. Definitely not a snark week candidate, the costumes are truly good! Plus, Val Kilmer etc…. “I’m your huckleberry.”

  8. Yes, if they’re made pre-1980s. In any Old West photos I have seen, the men aren’t wearing tiny hats. They should be wide-brimmed and protect them from the sun. But for some reason, shows and films have men wearing this dinky hats.

  9. I suspect the key factor contributing to this lamentable tendency is that ‘Western’ became a genre and an aesthetic unto itself quite early in the history of Hollywood, meaning that those costuming Westerns were often more interested in embodying the genre than in depicting the actual historic period.

    It probably doesn’t help that the Western genre is one of the most iconography-rich and iconic, making it all the harder for productions to look past such visual splendours and hoe their own row.

    That the ‘Wild West’ is an era with fluid, even arguable boundaries (Some might argue it stretched from 1849 to the early 20th century, others that it began earlier or later), given that fashions changed throughout that period and that the setting encompasses a multitude of cultures and subcultures, it’s no surprise that getting the details right requires a far more sensitive eye than most productions looking to bring the stuff of youthful imagination to life are inclined to apply.

  10. I had to go back and read the Young Guns entry again. Like Tombstone, I’m glad that the costuming holds up so well. And oh dear, now I want to watch it so much, but at the same time, feel like my admiration of the cast would be so age-inappropriate!

Feel the love

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.