Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 12, 1993 TAG: 9309100077
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
So little to wear.
A shopping spree must be in order. (Aren't they always?)
But not just any shopping spree. We're looking for concert clothes here - fashion statements on where your musical loyalties rest.
Clothes for Garth and Axl and Hammer and anyone else who comes to our fair and well-dressed city.
Not clothes for everyday, mind you, that you would wear to a bank job or a construction site or most regular workplaces.
Rather, clothes to be seen in.
This is not to say that you have to wear the right uniform to match whatever concert you might attend. One of the great things about clothes and concerts is that anything goes, fashion speaking at least.
You can look like hell. You can dress to dot. When the house lights go down, in a dark auditorium, it doesn't matter.
Still, there is the question of style and image.
Take a country show, the most common of concerts through these parts.
Western wear is more popular than ever, so finding something is easy.
Start with the head.
For men, to be a true concert cowboy, you need a hat. Hatless cowboys are like longhorns without their horns.
A safe bet nowadays is the black bull rider hat with the wide brim and the downward-slanted crown. Very Garth Brooks.
Men ask for hats "just like Garth wears" all the time, according to Melita Anderson, who works at Leatherhous in Valley View Mall.
Women prefer boleros, which are flatter than and not as wide as what Garth wears. Red boleros are particularly popular.
Next, move to the body.
For men, wildly loud print rodeo shirts are in. But Anderson says they seem to be bigger with wannabe cowboys.
"Most people who would buy one of these probably have never been on a horse in their life."
More understated are western-style shirts cut from the same mold, but in plain and simple grays and blacks and blues, even starched white. Comfortable and very classy.
For women, fringe works.
Especially sophisticated are the shirts with the beaded fringe that dangle along the collar bone. Sort of a Patsy Cline thing, updated for the '90s.
Glimmer doesn't work, however, except for those trying to keep up with their electric-shirted cowboy companions.
At Leatherhous, they have a blue one of these glimmering shirts that has gone unsold since last Christmas. "We call it the sparkle shirt," said Anderson.
Topping off your shirtwear with a bolo tie is always a nice accompaniment, for men or women, but it is not a necessity.
Metal collar tips should be avoided unless you're looking to draw blood from someone who gets too close.
Moving down, blue jeans, belts and belt buckles aren't too complicated.
Real cowboys and cowgirls wear Wranglers and no-nonsense hold-up-your-pants belts. Dinner platter-size belt buckles are optional.
Women also can wear jean skirts, or suede leather skirts with a concho belt if they want a more uptown look.
Now, the feet.
You have to have boots, no matter what bootless Billy Ray Cyrus might say. (He wears sneakers.)
"Snake is good," said Anderson at Leatherhous. "Snake is something people buy for those special occasions. It's not an everyday boot."
Perfect for a country hoedown.
Rattlesnake boots are probably the most popular of the snakeskin stompers, but there are also python boots, cobra boots and several other varieties.
And there's nothing ever wrong with just plain leather.
Boots are not only suitable for country, of course.
Rock 'n' rollers like boots, too.
They also are the going thing at rap concerts, only not cowboy boots so much as work boots and combat boots.
"That's what my father wore when he cut wood," says Rodney White, who works at Champs in Valley View.
High-priced sneakers are now passe.
Male rappers also go for Karl Kani jeans or shorts that hang way down on the hips. Extra baggy, please, with a matching vest, hooded sweatshirt or untucked T-shirt.
For the women, the fashion trend among the house music set is - don't grimace - bell bottoms, according to Darrell McGuire at Merry Go-Round in Valley View.
McGuire says this with a straight face. Halter tops to match and blouses with puffy sleeves also are back. (Where would bell bottoms be without them?)
Speaking of fashion eras gone by, the Deadhead/Spin Doctors element remains alive and perpetually tie-dyed.
But not exclusively tie-dyed.
Bajas have been big with the men this year. Bajas are like cloth potato sacks with arm holes. Good for tossing the Frisbee.
For women Deadheads, flowing sheer rayon dresses continue to grow in popularity.
"If you're going to a Dead show, a lot of people like to twirl," explains Peggy Walton at Native Cotton.
Harder rockers typically go for a less sheer look, but certainly no less revealing. It seems the more revealing, the more MTV, the better.
Just ask the roadies for Guns N' Roses.
Again, halters are the rage - only leather ones, with a convenient zipper up the front. Leather bustiers and leather dresses are equally effective.
The guideline is less rawhide than your common billfold.
"Busty helps," Melita Anderson also says.
In addition, rockers have a new option to consider: clip-on nose rings, for that right antisocial look without all the pain.
All of this, in the end, really isn't necessary, though.
For, often, the most suitable concert garb can be found not in the mall - but at the shows themselves.
The ultimate musical fashion statement: the concert T-shirt.
by CNB