Today is Go Texan Day. For all you non-Houstonians, that's the Friday before the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo starts. It's the day when all the trail riders--people actually ride into the city for this; the longest ride is from Hidalgo, 386 miles away--arrive and set up camp in Memorial Park.
It's the day when you're practically required to dress up.
Personally, I have no qualms about wearing loud retro Western shirts for any occasion, but Go Texan Day is an excuse to pull out the big guns.
I guess another small proof that I'm fully naturalized ("I wasn't born in Texas but I got here as fast as I could", right?) is that I wouldn't dream of spending a bunch of money on clothes . . . unless they're Western wear. I think people who pay $1000 for a pair of high heels are completely insane but, if I had it, I wouldn't blink at dropping that on a pair of really wicked boots. I don't have it, mind you, but if I did . . .
Likewise, I can't see spending a wad on shirts, or on dressy clothes that I'm only going to wear once every five years, anyway, but I will happily blow $75 (which is a whole lot of money in my book) on a loud Scully or Panhandle Slim shirt and wear it to a dressy occasion. I'll even wear it to a dressy occasion that's not in Texas: I wore this shirt in red to my brother's wedding rehearsal dinner. In Minnesota.
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The red ones I'm wearing in the picture, though, were pretty reasonable, and they're Ariats so they're nice.