Pearl Snaps

I have a tendency to get lodged in my brain the idea that I want or need a particular item (usually an item of clothing), and then spend weeks or months trying to find it.

Recently I was noticing and thinking about how popular Western-style shirts have been for the past several years, and how I've never felt comfortable with the idea of wearing one, mostly because of the association with cowboys and rodeos and horses and things that have nothing to do with my life up here in New England.

I thought to myself that it would be nice to find a denim shirt that had snaps instead of buttons, but without the Western yokes, which are the thing about Western shirts that I dislike the most. I looked in many, many places online, including reasonably well-known retailers like Sheplers that specialize in Western wear.

I found nothing even remotely close, and had basically decided to give up on the idea, when I was somehow reminded of the Denver Western-wear emporium Rockmount Ranchwear. It's a store that's popular with a lot of musicians, and looking through the clothing on the site it's easy to see why. They have a whole page on their site just for denim shirts, with about 15 variations. Near the bottom of the page I found what I'd been looking for.

Funny thing, though: when I finally found what I'd been looking for, I was somewhat surprised to realize that (a) I didn't think it would look especially good on me, and (b) I was no longer interested in it. The time I'd spent searching had actually helped me figure this out, and thus saved me from making a $75 mistake.

[Side note: who remembers Walker's Western Wear on Boylston Street? That was a cool store. I had some nice Justin boots I got there, and some gloves, and probably a few other things...]