The Way We Wore

From blue jeans to black tie, from Sam Houston to Selena, a rags-to-britches history of fashion, Texas style.

by Anne Dingus

June 1997

(Page 2 of 2)

1950’s

Hordes of Texans and other Americans visiting rural Mexico seize on its hand-painted muslin skirts as colorful mementos of their travels. Often sequined, the circle skirts feature Mexican themes such as cacti, Aztec pyramids, and the national snake-and-eagle motif. The “squaw dress,” a peasant blouse and tiered skirt with rickrack trim, rivals it as the costume of choice for rodeos, barbecues, and square dances.

1951

Neiman Marcus introduces the now legendary His and Her gifts in its lavish Christmas catalog. The premier offerings are matching vicuña coats ($695 each) and Swiss watches ($90 and $145). Subsequent gifts will include nowhere-but-Texas items such as airplanes and ermine bathrobes.

1955

In the wake of the phenomenally popular Disney TV show Davy Crockett, coonskin caps become de rigueur headgear not only for Texas children but for all American kids. Miss Texas 1955, June Prichard, pays tribute to the craze by sporting, for publicity stills, a strapless Davy Crockett swimsuit trimmed in modish mink instead of ragtag raccoon.

1957

Grace Kelly taps Neiman Marcus to supply the bridesmaids’ gowns for her wedding to Prince Rainier of Monaco.

1958

The simple wraparound smock designed by Neiman Marcus for its runway models to wear backstage becomes a fashion must. Actresses Mary Martin, Helen Hayes, and Ethel Merman (among others) wear them in their dressing rooms, and American Airlines buys three thousand for its stewardesses to put on before serving food.

1963

Lyndon Johnson’s daughter Luci asks Neiman Marcus to design her wedding dress. Shortly before the wedding, Stanley Marcus realizes that the store’s bridal designer of choice, Priscilla of Boston, is a nonunion shop— a situation that may prove embarrassing for the Great Society president. Though the gown is almost completed, before Luci walks down the aisle an International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union shop sews in its label.

1963

Kerrville designer Enid Collins markets a purse that is simply a wooden box silk-screened with a variety of designs and lavishly studded with rhinestones. Within five years the demand will be so great that Collins’ Medina factory will turn out a thousand bags a week, many with Texas themes such as horses, roadrunners, and money.

1964

Trammell Crow makes his name (and, to some extent, Dallas’) by building the Apparel Mart, a million-square-foot complex incorporating designers, manufacturers, retailers, models, and 1,400 showrooms. In its first year the vast center attracts 10,000 buyers from across the nation.

1965

Dallas-based Braniff Airlines enlists the fabled Italian designer Emilio Pucci to devise groovy new uniforms for its stewardesses. The result: psychedelic tunics with matching tights, shiny vinyl ankle boots in hot pink and avocado green, zippered jackets with modified Nehru collars, and a choice of Carnaby Street caps or clear acrylic astronaut-style helmets. (The “space-age plastic” of the helmets— touted as highly durable—quickly begins to deteriorate.)

1965

Displaying his gall- bladder-surgery scar, President Johnson also flashes his gold Rolex. Admiring Texans promptly make it the state’s preferred timepiece; jewelry stores in major Texas cities run out, forcing customers to vie for places on waiting lists. Wearers of the hefty status symbol include Darrell Royal, Red Adair, Willie Nelson, and Racehorse Haynes.

1966

Levi Strauss of San Francisco opens its first factory in El Paso. Thirty years later, the city will be the blue-jean capital of the world, and the company will employ a total of 10,000 Texans there and in eight other towns to manufacture its classic, denim cowboy pants. However, the upstart Wrangler company, which will begin production in El Paso in 1969, soon surpasses the California corporation in regional popularity; in 1992 almost half of the 32 million pairs of jeans sold in Texas will be Wranglers.

1967

After the success of Arthur Penn’s Bonnie and Clyde, based on the crime spree of the notorious Dallas outlaws (played by Faye Dunaway, above, and Warren Beatty), a thirties-fashion craze sweeps the nation.

1967

An ad campaign for the Chrysler Corporation featuring a curvy blonde in a white Stetson (“The Dodge Rebellion wants you!”) rejuvenates sales of the classic Western hat. Dodge dealers across the nation don Stetsons to emphasize their good-guy image.

1968

Robert Sakowitz impresses the international fashion world by persuading André Courrèges, the Parisian inventor of the miniskirt, to market his elegant new ready-to-wear line in wild and woolly Houston. He also sweet-talks Yves Saint Laurent into giving the Sakowitz stores exclusive Texas rights to his designs, leaving Neiman Marcus fuming.

1970

Fourteen-year-old Jerry Hall of Mesquite is rejected by Dallas’ doyenne of modeling, Kim Dawson, because she is “too tall and too outrageous-looking.” The five-eleven, megamaned Hall will go on to grace hundreds of magazine covers, lend her sexy appeal to print ads for L’Oréal, Revlon, and Charles of the Ritz, and become equally famous for being Mick Jagger’s main squeeze.

1972

Tex Schramm creates the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, whose belted hot pants, paired with midriff-and-bosom-baring bolero tops, promptly spark scandalized reactions and cheesecake posters in approximately equal amounts. Southwest Airlines flight attendants also bare their legs in short shorts, spurring a burst of popularity for the Dallas company.

1975

A mannequin manufacturer bases its new model on the refined face and size 6 figure of Pam Sakowitz, the wife of Robert Sakowitz. The mannequins appear in the family’s Houston flagship as well as in stores nationwide.

1976

To the horror of his buyers, Robert Sakowitz orders the phrase “Damn I’m Good” printed on ties, towels, bath mats, money clips, and bracelets. The gimmick proves a winner, selling steadily for two solid years.

1977

Texas lawmakers spurn a bill introduced by Representative Pike Powers of Beaumont declaring blue jeans the official state costume.

1980

A nationwide outbreak of Texas fever, inspired by the movie Urban Cowboy along with the popular “outlaw” music of Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings, heats up the Western-wear industry. Upstart places such as glitzy Cutter Bill’s of Houston (named after owner Rex Cauble’s cutting horse) popularize hip kicker accessories like silver tips for boots and collars as well as bolo-tie slides inset with semiprecious gems. Venerable emporiums like San Angelo’s Holland’s and Fort Worth’s Luskey’s also benefit from the Western craze. So do celebrities such as rodeo champion Larry Mahan, who lends his name to a collection of men’s Western wear. Women’s designers frantically churn out fringed, beaded, rhinestoned, and pearl-studded ready-to-wear; the Western styles are reborn as “Texas glitz.”

1981

Nine-year-old Todd Oldham of Keller stitches together two pillowcases to make his sister an op-art sundress. Fifteen years later, he will be a bona fide big-time designer, known for his wacky, witty ready-to-wear; his clothes will be modeled by Cindy Crawford, Kate Moss, and RuPaul and purchased by Susan Sarandon, Rosie O’Donnell, and Madonna.

1985

Jaclyn Smith of Houston, best known for her Charlie’s Angels role, endorses a line of inexpensive “classics” for Kmart that will ultimately range from plus-size, control-top pantyhose to polyester “shantung” suits.

1991

Governor Ann Richards wears a suit made of Texas mohair to her inauguration.

1993

A former model and assistant to Victor Costa, the Dallas designer known for affordable knockoffs, files a lawsuit charging him with sexual harassment. Two years later, citing heavy legal fees, Costa will file for bankruptcy.

1995

Vogue magazine writer Vicki Woods attends a style show and brunch in Houston, where she marvels that she has “never seen so much gold . . . so much red and purple and yellow, or so much big blond hair. (Houston hair defies the laws of physics.)” Aghast at the local matrons’ attempts to dress up simple Ralph Lauren suits, the writer notes that she “abandoned journalistic neutrality” to protest, whereupon a belle replied, “What separates us from the beasts is their failure to accessorize.”

1996

The Smithsonian Institution adds to its collection of historical apparel the glittery pantsuit worn by tejano singer Selena in a performance at Houston’s Astrodome on February 28, 1995, a month before her murder in Corpus Christi.

1996

Flush with the success of its ultracool timepieces, packaged in funky retro tins, the Fossil company of Richardson expands into the production of sunglasses and leather goods.

1997

The Texas Fashion Collection, housed at the University of North Texas in Denton, marks its twenty-fifth anniversary in May with an exhibit of power suits worn by famous Texas women, such as Ann Richards, Barbara Bush, Kay Bailey Hutchison, and Mary Kay Ash. The exhibit also includes a Rudy Gernreich topless bathing suit, a black velvet Balenciaga dress trimmed in ermine, and a Givenchy pantsuit with a hot pink mink top.

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