How Do You Wear Cowboy Boots?

Believe it or not, someone entering that question into a search engine is quite common. I get about ten or twenty visits each day to the page on my website about how to wear cowboy boots as a result of someone entering that question or one similar to it.

I've wondered why. I mean, what does the person really want to know? What to wear with cowboy boots? How to wear them (jeans inside or not?), or what?

I've quit being over-analytical, and just realized that this is a common question. So rather than just have a demonstration as I originally had on that page about how to get jeans to stay down inside cowboy boots if that's how someone wants to wear them, I provided some more detail and realistic information about just how men wear cowboy boots in the U.S.

Just put on your jeans, pull on your boots, and stand tall. But... there is a little bit more to it, if you care to read on. Here are three primary components to the topic, which really relate more to the clothing worn with cowboy boots than the boots themselves:

• Do guys wear jeans inside or outside boots?
  -- outside. Sure you see a lot of pics of the cowboy boots on my website with me wearing jeans inside them. That's really just to show the boots for purposes of a boot-related website. But in the day-to-day, men wear jeans over boots. The only times I see men wearing jeans inside their boots is if they are riding rodeo or attending an event such as a "boot night" where you want people to see the boots.

• What are "stacked jeans"?
  -- you want to have jeans that are long enough to come down to the foot of the boot, but not so long as to drag on the floor behind the heel. The jeans may form a soft fold along the foot of the boot. That is "stacked jeans" -- simply, the jeans are long enough to stack (or fold) on top of the boot foot. This is the way most men wear jeans with boots. If jeans are shorter than that, they don't look right with boots and sometimes the man wearing jeans that ride up the boot shaft suffers consequences of ridicule. Goodness knows, I've endured that when some people who "don't get it" have visited my website, linked to it from a blog or forum, and then made comments that reflect their lack of intelligence.
• Wranglers, Levis, or designer jeans?
  --Cowboys, especially those who ride horses, and Bikers (that is, those of us who ride motorcycles), prefer Wranglers since the inseam of Wranglers is on the outside of the leg, whereas the inseam of Levis is on the inside. An "inside inseam" can rub against the leg and get really uncomfortable after a few hours. Levis were really popular years ago. But since their production was moved outside the U.S. in 1996, the quality is not in the product like it once was. And designer jeans? FuggetAboutIt (as they may say in New York City). Unless you're on a fashion runway, save your money and get Wranglers. Masculine men -- gay or straight -- wear regular-old straight-legged blue jeans. (Don't even ask about how silly baggy and low-rise jeans look on adult men. They're for kids.)

Now, back to cowboy boots, a few questions that search engines bring to my blog or website have included:

• What color of cowboy boots should I get?
  -- if you wear boots in an office, then get solid-color, all-leather black, brown, black cherry, or grey. If you like a distinctly different style, snakeskin cowboy boots look really good, and come in a wide variety of colors. For more detailed answers, see my tutorial on choosing boots on my website.
• How tall should the boots be?
  -- Since most men wear jeans or pants over boots, the height of the boot really doesn't matter. That's why most standard cowboy boots are 13" (33cm) tall. Tall enough to feel like a boot. There are taller cowboy boots available, either as Buckaroo boots or from custom shops, and I have some of those. They feel great on the legs. Answer is: get what you want.
• Do men wear cowboy boots with suits?
  -- Yes, especially in the U.S. Midwest and some states in the South, it is quite common to see men dressed in a suit, tie, and cowboy boots. Don't worry about what others may think. Be a man. You like boots? Wear 'em. If you are worried about what other people may say, then you probably are better off wearing tassled loafers, anyway.

So, that's the story, as simple as it is -- How Do You Wear Cowboy Boots? Confidently, proudly, and with pleasure.

Life is short: Wear your boots!