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HERALD/REVIEW
TOMBSTONE — Go ahead, admit it. You’ve been fascinated, curious, or maybe even envious of the folks strolling the streets of Tombstone in their period Western wear.
One local observer calls the town a “continuous costume parade,” while another refers to it as Cochise County’s own fantasy camp.
Well now’s the time to transform those Wild West dreams into wardrobe realities.
 Dressed in their fancy clothes for dinner, Coco Lucero and Martin Dayton stroll the boardwalk on the way to Nell Cashman's Restaurant. (By Suzanne Cronn-Herald/Review) |
With three major Tombstone weekends coming fast on the calendar — Helldorado Days, the 125th Anniversary of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, and the Tombstone Western Music Festival — why not join the real-deal locals, the re-enactors, the history buffs and (yes) the movie stars who’ll be traveling from near and far to enjoy these unique events.
Here’s how to look the part.
“I love dressing up,” said Coco Lucero, enthusiastically riffling through a rack of late 19th century-inspired dresses in The Oriental Saloon, “and I love Tombstone.”
Lucero and an old friend from high school, Martin Dayton, both of Sierra Vista, agreed to help the Herald/Review show readers how they, too, may trod the wooden sidewalks, swagger into a saloon, or elegantly sashay to an after-theatre midnight supper.
“I have a pair of boots,” Dayton declared, “and I rode in a parade here once,” but he admits to wondering what he’d look like as a “real” cowboy.
With the help of The Oriental’s Suzanne Wilson and Phyllis Deloia, it wasn’t long before he found out.
The shop is widely known for making 1880’s-reproduction clothing — for sale and for rent — and Wilson suggested the couple try out some different “looks.”
“How about a day dress for her and the cowboy for him?” said Wilson, who runs the shop with a cheerful, yet demure manner.
And so the transformations began. Lucero selected a two-piece, floral calico cotton print, and Deloia set to work making sure no detail was left undone.
“We put a little knot in the hair, like this,” Deloia demonstrated, “so the hat can sit at an angle with the hatpin holding it in place,” she demonstrated.
A bustle was added for posterior interest.
In the meantime, Dayton had donned a pair of denim pinstripe trousers with leather suspenders, and a bib front shirt sporting metal buttons.
Suede chaps (the legs clip in the back) were fastened on, and leather cuffs strapped to his wrists. With a bandolero around the chest and a wildrag around his neck for good measure, the young man who manages fire retardant operations at Libby air tanker base on Fort Huachuca looked like a rustic wrangler you wouldn’t want to wrestle with.
“Can I have a gun, please?” he asked.
Wilson obliged.
“We have lots of looks for men, but the most popular is Wyatt Earp,” she said. “I can tell when they walk in the door what it’s going to be.”
Rentals at The Oriental are $25 for 24 hours, and that includes an entire outfit — for men or women. There’s even a rental rack for kids with outfits running up the meter at $15 a day. Holsters and replica guns are extra.
By the time the time Lucero joined her cowboy, Deloia had found a hairpiece of ringlets to add period authenticity to Lucero’s pixie cut, and completed the effect with matching crocheted gloves, and a reticule (pouch bag with drawstrings).
“To hold a lady’s essentials,” explained Deloia, “and of course you never go out without a parasol to keep the sun off your skin.”
“If my own curls would look like this, I’d let them grow,” said Lucero, pleased with the effect as they set out for a stroll up Allen Street.
The handsome couple drew smiles, admiring glances, and more than one tourist caught their own snapshot to take home from Tombstone.
More than meets the eye
Fashions from the era have a grown-up quality and a grace.
Men look like men. Women look like women.
But dressing for 19th century success is a building process.
“You can’t slouch in this thing,” gasped Lucero after Deloia had finished lacing up a corset accentuating her already-tiny waist.
“It’s good for your back,” Deloia assured her.
For their evening look, Lucero and Dayton piled into layers of fabric, both seen and unseen. She chose a dress of black satin, with a scalloped red lace overlay, hiding black fishnet stockings. A satin hat with black feathers and lace was the perfect complement. Her own necklace matched the outfit.
“Oh, wow,” she exclaimed, “I just might have to come back and buy this.”
Wilson was busy building a “Gambler,” or “Dandy” look for Dayton, replete with cutaway (or opera) coat, brocade vest, and ascot with stickpin.
“I feel taller,” he said, as Wilson dashed about finding him just the right hat. “We just might stay in town tonight and not come back,” he joked.
But as the couple headed toward Nellie Cashman’s Restaurant — for a dinner that was only in their imaginations — they would easily have fit in with the genteel society of bygone days.
Since no trip to Tombstone is complete without a peek into life in the saloons, that was the natural choice for the third and final foray into fashion.
With pantaloons, a bustle back, and black camisole peeking out the front of her top, Lucero’s lush yellow boa picked up the bright organza trim of her chosen “saloon girl” costume. Deloia arranged a black and yellow feather clip with dangling pearls for Lucero’s hair.
Dayton became a piano-man personified with wing-tip collar white shirt, paisley vest, red sleeve garters on both arms and a derby hat.
“The wing-tip shirts are coming back for dress,” said Wilson, “and so are French cuffs.”
A hit in the Crystal Palace Saloon across the street, the couple connected with Tombstone artist Mark Brown, who regularly dresses in period Western wear.
Lucero, a classified advertising rep at the Herald, is making plans to attend Helldorado Days and definitely intends to dress up.
Dayton isn’t sure which of the big weekends might prompt him to mosey on back, but he allows that dressing up is a possibility, “Just for the heck of it.”
With six years of experience behind her, The Oriental’s Suzanne Wilson says, “People get taken up with the town. They want to look the part.”
About The
Oriental Saloon
The Oriental Saloon at 500 East Allen Street has been, at various times, a bank, a pharmacy, a boot shop and now back under its original name, it’s Suzanne Wilson’s homage to 1880s fashions — for ladies, gentlemen, cowboys and what Wilson politely refers to as “saloon girls.”
It’s easy to feel you are in a clothing emporium from Tombstone’s silver-lined heyday.
“We take custom orders from all over the world,” she says. “There are re-enactors in Germany, in England, and all over the West. A number of groups require their members to dress in period clothing, and we’ll work from photographs, sketches, or authentic patterns from the era.”
Arguably the largest 1880s reproduction clothiers, milliners and accessory purveyors in town, a majority of the garments are handmade on the premises.
There’s a wide selection of day dresses, proper-lady dresses, ball gowns and blatantly “hussified” ensembles. Sizes 1 to 6X are no problem.
Accessories matter. The Oriental spills over with boas, hats, gloves, jewelry, shawls and parasols. The store also carries petticoats, pantaloons, corsets, camisoles, and even wedding dresses.
“People love to get married in Tombstone,” Wilson reports. “Whether at the Courthouse, the gazebo in the park, or the gardens at one of the lovely B&Bs.”
Alterations are free, and every dress has a hat to match.
Period Western wear styles for men are still much-manufactured, such as dusters, frock coats, vaquero jackets, high-waist, V-back trousers with watch pocket, cowboy hats, vests, belts, holsters and wildrags.
From their mezzanine workroom littered with scraps of lace, trims, beads, feathers, bolts of fabric and a dressmaker’s dummy, Wilson and seamstress Phyllis Deloia are working seven days a week to fill their advance orders just for Helldorado Days.
The rental business fluctuates dramatically — from a few customers a month, to four or five in a day.
They’ve made costumes for several movies and theatrical productions, and, “It’s just so wonderful to see your name on screen,” Wilson beams.
She and husband Richard, who formerly ran a commerical electrical company in Dallas, were on their way to the Grand Canyon a little over six years ago from Texas, and took a wrong turn in Bisbee.
“We ended up in Tombstone,” Wilson remembers, “and stayed here our whole vacation.” A few months later they moved in permanently.
The Oriental will sponsor two charity Casino Nights during the O.K. Corral’s Anniversary weekend. Special guests will be Linden Ashby who played Morgan Earp in the film “Wyatt Earp,” and Joanna Pacula who was Big Nose Kate in the film “Tombstone.”
An autographed script will be raffled, and proceeds from the evenings will benefit Tombstone’s animal shelter and food bank.
Call 457-3922 for more information.
The Oriental Saloon is where Doc Holliday, in 1880, returned with a double action pistol to shoot proprietor Milt Joyce — who had continued Johnny Tyler’s earlier harangue of Holliday. Joyce was hit in the hand and his partner in the left big toe.
Holliday pled guilty to assault and battery the next day and was fined $20.
shuni wrote on Apr 18, 2008 12:11 AM: