Where have all the cowgirls gone?

Wondered what the context was for my Nudie Cohn reference?  Well, it's Halloween time and Molly is going to be a 40s Cowgirl, as imagined by Chasing Fireflies.  I clicked buy, and then bought some red cowgirl boots at Target b/c $60 for "costume" quality footwear on Chasing Fireflies seemed high.  A true win would have been these Stella McCartney Kids cowgirl boots.

Killing it.

I did a little research for hair and makeup purposes.  Now what makes a costume "40s cowgirl" as opposed to "50s cowgirl"?  Nothing.  Other than Halloween teaching our children that the 50s are about sock-hops and grease.   Children might be confused if we shove too much into one decade.

Dale Evans is probably queen of the vintage cowgirls.  Married to Roy Rogers, she had plenty of reasons to wear crazy western apparel that is absolutely impractical for actually being a cow hand.

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One of her Nudie Cohn dresses :)

Need more vintage cowgirl to start your day?  No problem.

Yep, Veronica Lake in Western wear.  You're welcome.

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THESE BOOTS!!!

OK, this is a "Texas Circus", but it seemed visually similar

This stuff is still floating around vintage shops, just waiting to be restyled by hipsters.

And where did all the cowgirls go?  Pills & booze.  Skin cancer.  Plane crashes, car crashes and horse crashes.  It was a hard life.

Unless otherwise marked, images from Google Image Search for "flowers and fringe on vintage western wear" and this Pinterest board.