# Traditional USA costume **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 21, 2009, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-usa-costume/493795 "2009-04-21T00:38:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2009, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-usa-costume/493795/1 "2009-04-21T00:38:57Z")
My daughter attends an international school, this week they will start preparations for the yearly school cultural fair and my daughter’s classroom was selected to represent the West Coast of the United States (plus Alaska and Hawaii, how stupid is that?). I was hoping for a really interesting country (sorry American dopers, but the novelty has worn out), instead we get this. There’s nothing we can do that most kids won’t already know. Besides, who grouped Utah with California and Hawaii with Alaska? Gee people… Anyways, I have to come up with a costume for a girl and a boy. Cowboys and Indians are overdone, and frankly a little cliched. I want something, I don’t know, authentic but not overdone. And something I can sew on my own. I thought of recreating the American Gothic picture, but Iowa is not included in the list of states, for obvious reasons. So, American dopers. Any suggestions, other than marching back to school and demanding we be reassigned a cool country? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2009, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-usa-costume/493795/2 "2009-04-21T00:57:05Z")
West Coast, Hawaii, and Alaska? A grass skirt, a grungy flannel shirt, and a parka with a fur hood. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2009, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-usa-costume/493795/3 "2009-04-21T01:02:59Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > West Coast, Hawaii, and Alaska? > > A grass skirt, a grungy flannel shirt, and a parka with a fur hood. And a large anti-fur button to represent California. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2009, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-usa-costume/493795/4 "2009-04-21T01:21:30Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > West Coast, Hawaii, and Alaska? > > A grass skirt… [Actually](http://www.flickr.com/photos/tropicalnadia/3085593581/)… We did that in December, I guess that would be cheating. C’mon guys, help a clueless foreigner here. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2009, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-usa-costume/493795/5 "2009-04-21T01:21:37Z")
A grass skirt, a Hawaiian shirt with pot leaves on it, a parka with seal fur, a plate of whale blubber, a save the whales sign, a surfboard, a PETA protest sign, a rifle and survival wear for the Washington isolationists. Shit how do I include the Chinese and Japanese ethnicity? Maybe a pair of wooden sandals and a robot. Line the committee against the wall, because this is impossible. ---
**Author:** ![not\_alice](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_alice/32/7283_2.png) [@not\_alice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_alice)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2009, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-usa-costume/493795/6 "2009-04-21T01:33:15Z")
well if you got Utah, I bet you can find some interesting costumes on various mormon polygamy advocate sites. or if you go for the American Gothic look, I will vouch for it being in vogue in my part of agricultural-hard-core-Christian California ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2009, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-usa-costume/493795/7 "2009-04-21T02:06:43Z")
Hrmm, I forgot to say that the costume has to be, you know, real? ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2009, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-usa-costume/493795/8 "2009-04-21T02:10:06Z")
Jeans and a T-shirt? ---
**Author:** ![Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harriet_the_Spry)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2009, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-usa-costume/493795/9 "2009-04-21T02:13:25Z")
I think a surfer would be fun. That would cover Californa and Hawaii pretty well, and seems like it would be fun for a kid. Baggie shorts, t-shirt, optional fake tan, cocoa butter scented lotion, messy hair, surfboard, flip-flops, maybe some Beach Boys tunes or Hawaiian music. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2009, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-usa-costume/493795/10 "2009-04-21T02:23:59Z")
> [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](#): > > Baggie shorts, t-shirt, **optional fake tan** , cocoa butter scented lotion, messy hair, surfboard, flip-flops, maybe some Beach Boys tunes or Hawaiian music. No need for that, everybody here has a tan, even the platinum blondes. By the way, I suppose I need something with a historical base. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2009, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-usa-costume/493795/11 "2009-04-21T02:31:34Z")
> [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](#): > > I think a surfer would be fun. That would cover Californa and Hawaii pretty well, and seems like it would be fun for a kid. > > Baggie shorts, t-shirt, optional fake tan, cocoa butter scented lotion, messy hair, surfboard, flip-flops, maybe some Beach Boys tunes or Hawaiian music. That’s about the only thing I could think of. White sunscreen on the nose, too, and of course sunglasses. The whole nature of California is that you can’t really pin down any one “traditional” kind of clothing, unless you want to go back to the [Californios](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Californios) (Spanish style ranchero dress), which nobody would understand, or some kind of Native American dress, like the [Tongva](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabrielenos) or [Kumeyaay](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumeyaay). California has always been the home of the rootless. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2009, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-usa-costume/493795/12 "2009-04-21T02:34:25Z")
[American Indians of the Pacific Northwest](http://content.lib.washington.edu/aipnw/) Another link showing [traditional clothing](http://www.ahsd25.k12.il.us/Curriculum%20Info/NativeAmericans/nwclothing.html) ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2009, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-usa-costume/493795/13 "2009-04-21T02:44:35Z")
I always thought the traditional American costume was jeans, t-shirt with inane joke or faded advertising on it, running shoes and a baseball cap. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2009, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-usa-costume/493795/14 "2009-04-21T03:11:18Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > I always thought the traditional American costume was jeans, t-shirt with inane joke or faded advertising on it, running shoes and a baseball cap. Damn. That works for every state! Go with it. ---
**Author:** ![Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harriet_the_Spry)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2009, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-usa-costume/493795/15 "2009-04-21T03:11:20Z")
For a historical angle, you might go with a prospector from the Gold Rush. Rolled up overalls, unkempt beard, hat, pie pan with gold-painted rocks. ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2009, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-usa-costume/493795/16 "2009-04-21T04:01:49Z")
I’d say you can’t take such a conflicted task seriously. Still… one boy costume, one girl costume, and the rest of the class will be doing other bits of left-coast culture that you don’t take on. Do the girl up as a surfer chick (works for Hawaii and California), and the boy up as a forty-niner miner. Paint some of the nuggets silver and some gold, and you’ve covered both the California Gold Rush (maybe the Klondike Gold Rush as well) and also Nevada’s Virginia City silver boom. Or probably don’t try so hard to cover so many things here. You can’t, there’s too much here. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2009, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-usa-costume/493795/17 "2009-04-21T05:54:13Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > I always thought the traditional American costume was jeans, t-shirt with inane joke or faded advertising on it, running shoes and a baseball cap. Bingo. And feel free to add a fanny pack. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2009, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-usa-costume/493795/18 "2009-04-21T08:31:40Z")
Dress the kids up “Little House on the Prairie” style? ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2009, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-usa-costume/493795/19 "2009-04-21T10:40:38Z")
Don’t forget, blue jeans _started_ out there. 1850s, Levi Strauss, importer from Italy. They’re actually historically accurate. ---
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2009, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-usa-costume/493795/20 "2009-04-21T10:49:45Z")
Dress her in an army outfit and have her sit with the child in the Iraqi costume? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-usa-costume/493795.md?page=2)