A Custom Tailored Shirt

Style wasn’t always my thing, and spending a lot of money on a custom-tailored shirt wasn’t something I’d always wanted to do but in this case it was inevitable, I suppose.  Since 2017 I’ve been working on a photo project documenting my job driving Jeep tours around Colorado Springs, and part of that job is dressing up like a cowboy.  In the last two years I’ve been taking greater interest in my appearance, developed a bit of a clothing obsession, and gotten a reputation at work for it now.  While still studying I was encouraged to really delve into the culture as far as I could, and reading a book called Confederates in the Attic helped as well.  The book is about one guy’s journey taking part in American Civil War reenactments, how much of a lifestyle it became for him and the people surrounding him who would obsess over minute details of their appearance in the pursuit of authenticity.  The resulting application of this in my photo project work so far is the amount of money I’ve invested in my personal wardrobe (and right now I’m hearing a song by the Drive-by Truckers in the back of my head…don’t call what you’re wearing an outfit). And really, shooting film is as much a part of pursuing authenticity as anything else I do.

When your local haberdashery Rutledge’s sends you a $100 off coupon for anything in the store (valid only through December), and your boss gives you a $100 gift certificate to the same place at the work Christmas party, well then: some things are just meant to happen, I guess.  I’m a sucker for a good deal, and what better way to take advantage of the opportunity presented than to make a work shirt that absolutely no one else will have?  Colorado’s historic place at the forefront of Western American clothing style makes something like cowboy business casual pretty usual here, and without knowing it I was channeling the spirit of a certain country singer as well.

I have one shirt that when worn, often elicits compliments on my appearance from random women I pass in my travels, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want more of that.  I don’t know if it’s the colors or the patterns (or a combination perhaps?) but I also like the way it’s cut so I used that shirt as an initial template.  The defining traits of a Western shirt are that it has snap buttons and a fancy shoulder yoke.  I wanted two fabrics so that the yoke would stand out: what’s the point otherwise?  As Rutledge’s customer base is going to be mainly businessmen wanting suits most of the fabrics weren’t too interesting or noticeable but I worked with what was available and came up with some nice complimentary but contrasting patterns.  I discovered while writing this that John Denver wore an eerily similar shirt to mine on the cover of TV Showtime magazine back in 1975, so I’d say I’m in good company.  It’s one of those little coincidences but as soon as I saw the flower pattern I was thinking of the guy and it’s possible I’d seen that photo long ago.

Final price of the shirt is determined by what fabric(s) are chosen but also I was informed that the Western-style with the added shoulder yoke would cost extra, so I knew that I wasn’t getting out of the store without denting my wallet a bit.  But as the saying goes, “If you have to ask how much it costs then you can’t afford it,” so I was determined to keep my mouth shut, and the final price didn’t have me running away screaming.  The actual tailoring process was nearly painless as it mostly involved standing still while my regular sales associate John took measurements.

Of course I carry a camera with me nearly everywhere I go and on that day it happened to be an unmetered Nikon F2 and a roll of Kodak Tri-X.  While I’m pretty good at Sunny-16 outdoors, indoors can involve a bit more guesswork, especially with the sunshine coming through the windows at 10:15AM.  I believe these were taken between f/5.6 and f/2 at 1/60th, and I’m fairly confident in my ability now so shooting meterless doesn’t faze me.  It took a few months between taking body measurements and receiving the shirt, and unfortunately the company that does the cutting/sewing hadn’t quite followed instructions: the wrong fabric was used for half the shoulder yoke and it had to be sent back to be redone, taking another few weeks but we got it right in the end.

I was at least able to try on the shirt and see that it fit well, which was the most important thing.  So now I’m ready for another year of pretending to be a cowboy and looking halfway decent while I do it, I hope.  Not that I usually go in for style shots but I wouldn’t want to leave you all without a picture of the shirt in glorious color:

Lab-developed.  Scanned/finished by myself using the Pakon F335 and Affinity Photo.
You can find my work at The Resurrected Camera or for all-cowboy all the time, my Instagram: @thefamouspdog.

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