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Tell me you've never been to north Texas or the OK panhandle without telling me you've never been there.
The type of cowboy that "doesn't exist" is alive and well. That style of dress is for protection from the elements as well as being stylish and classy. Cowboys and vaqueros wore long sleeve shirts way before sunscreen was invented. Same goes for a cowboy hat.
Even in my part of Arkansas this manner of dress is common. Go to the local feed store / cafe at lunch and 4 days out of 7 you will see someone in chaps or chinks wearing spurs. This ain't for show, we're ranchin' ol Son.
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No, I've never been to Arkansas. But you admitted in your post that it's about being "stylish and classy," which is fine, but it's also a tacit admission that it's a costume. As you're probably aware, farms and ranches exist everywhere. In PA dress was strictly functional, so weather and comfort appropriate for the most part. Layers, you know, as is the rule for everything else outside in a non-San Diego climate.
I have truly never seen people go out wearing chaps or spurs. Plenty of people wore chaps to saw (PPE) and I suppose I could understand them if you were for some reason riding through four foot tall brambles, but they were miserably uncomfortable and came off as soon as they could. I've never seen anybody wear spurs. If a horse had flanks so dead a kick wouldn't work they weren't ridden.