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 Entertainment | February 2006 
Vaquero Fashion
 Ed Beeson - Herald News
| | A Cuban vaquero, or cowboy, sits astride his horse at his small, roadside ranch in the south central province of Camaguey. |
It may be hard to herd cattle when you live in Clifton, but a shop in the city's Botany Village neighborhood lets you at least look as though you do.
The Alamo is a lone outpost for Western wear in this tiny enclave of mostly Eastern European shops. Inconspicuous, except for the tall cactus growing in its Parker Avenue storefront window, the Alamo specializes in high-end cowboy boots, Stetson hats and silver belt buckles nearly the size of satellite dishes.
Although the fundamentals of Western wear have stayed the same for decades, the clothing is generally no longer used for the down-and-dirty work of lassoing, corralling and branding beasts of burden. It has become too delicate, too stylized and too elegant for anything more than a night of carousing with friends, drinking beer and waltzing to the latest music of Mexico.
So if you want to dress like a true vaquero, a true Mexican cowboy, you must prioritize. Armando Arenas, the co-owner and manager of the Alamo, offers the following advice:
Start with the boots. Move to the hat. Then worry about the clothes.
The capital of boot making is in the central Mexican city of Le??and during the past dozen years, boot makers there have shown a preference for exotic skins from around the world, rather than the boring old brown cow. Typical boots nowadays are made from caimans that come from Colombia. ostriches and crocodiles from Africa, alligators from the Americas and anacondas from Brazil. Eels, manta rays and iguanas also make quality boots.
So much selection, of course, only complicates buying, but consider this: A pair of crocodile boots may cost more than their caiman cousin, but that's because the beast has thick tail leather that bootmakers shape into a ridge on the front of the boot. For comfort, however, ostrich boots are most desirable. "Es mas suave," Arenas, 29, said in Spanish – it's softer. "Your foot just kind of fits into it."
Ostrich skin is also distinctive in that it is covered in pimples, spaced about an inch or so apart, the spots from which the bird's feathers were plucked. Sometimes the broken stem of a quill sticks out from one. The best ostrich leather is cut from the back of the beast. "Just like a cow," Arenas said, "the back is more durable."
It is true in every language: Cuesta dinero lucir guapo. It costs money to look handsome. But as Arenas said, everyone has the right to beautify him- or herself, whatever the price. "If a woman wants to treat herself to a salon ... a guy, he can come here and spend money on himself," he said.
A soft-spoken man with a poof of jet black hair, Arenas was born in Puebla, a city founded by Spanish conquistadores. He moved to the United States in 1992. He lives in Clifton, which helps to explain why the Alamo was opened here.
Arenas' older brother, Antonio, came to the United States a few years earlier. Antonio worked in a Western-wear shop in New York and learned the ropes of the business there. When that shop closed, Antonio opened the Little Ranch in New Rochelle, N.Y., six years ago. Business was sufficiently brisk that he and Armando decided to open this Clifton branch in 2002. They recently opened a third store in the Bronx.
But the other reason why the Alamo is here hints at broader changes in this neck of Clifton. While the Alamo is flanked by shops with red-and-white Polish flags flapping out front, the village's dynamics are shifting. Proof of this is literally on the horizon. Poking up behind the three-story, 87-year-old Clifton Saving Bank a few blocks from the Alamo is the four-story Banco Popular, the country's largest Hispanic-owned banking company.
In this section of Clifton alone, Hispanics account for more than 40 percent of the population, the highest ratio in the city, according to the 2000 Census.
But while Botany Village is slowly changing to fit its newcomers, its newcomers are slowly changing to fit in with America -- and often in subtle ways.
"There, it's more everyday dress," Arenas said of vaquero fashion in Mexico.
"When you come here," he continued, gliding his hand down his green sweater and black leather jacket combination, "it's different."
Hence some people like to dress like a cowboy, even this far from the ranch. Clothes can be such a connection to home.
Slip on a pair of slim-fitting jeans. Pull on your boots. Snap your belt buckle. Button up your shirt. Slip on your jacket. Tie on a lasso. Adjust your sombrero. Look from beneath the brim.
How do you feel?
Like a cowboy?
Not necessarily.
"You feel like you're in a party," Arenas said, "in Mexico."
Elizabeth Lara contributed to this report. Reach Ed Beeson at (973) 569-7042 or beeson@northjersey.com |
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