Iron Your Jeans, Pardner

You should not iron a crease in your jeans!

Denim has been a staple for decades. Why? Simple. Jeans are casual. Workwear. Formality is a crease. Do you mix the two? It's the same as wearing a tuxedo while mowing the lawn.

Tom McKay was a man who ironed his pants religiously. He wore jeans that were ironed. My mother did the ironing.

Dad was a federal game warden and his uniform consisted of a pair neatly ironed bootcut wranglers, an embroidered pique shirt, and cowboys boots. When I was a child, I watched my mom iron a sharp line into the jeans of my dad while she viewed Touched by an Angel. "What's going on?" I thought. Jeans are not business slacks!

In my forties, I am flipping through old pictures at my parents' house. Dad is wearing his Wranglers with razor-sharp wrinkles. He looks like a man of business.

Tom McKay in his ironed Wranglers, circa 1990.

Ironed Wranglers were also found in places other than my old family photos.

George Strait wears Wranglers with wrinkles as if they were dress pants. He even wears them with a tuxedo shirt. In rural Oklahoma, cowboys wear pressed denim as if it were their Sunday best.

There's an entire subset of cowboys that swear by ironed, starched jeans. Why?

They claim that starch acts as armor. Science says that it could weaken the fabric. Looks sharp: a crease on your Wranglers tells you, "I'm not only ready to bale hay but also to take my girl to Cattleman's Steakhouse afterward."

Ironed Wranglers are also a thing amongst young, hip men. I've seen them on cowpokes and 90s country musicians in Blanco, Oklahoma. Ironed bootcut Wranglers are a new trend among fashion-forward, cool guys. The Wrancher, a polyester cowboy pant that was a Tom McKay style staple, is also gaining popularity.

Curiosity got the best of me. I decided to iron my Cowboy Cut Wranglers. It's a great look, reader. At least I think so.

Here are some looks that I created with my jeans after they were ironed:

This first outfit was called "The Tom McKay". It consisted of bootcut Wranglers ironed with a pique shirt and a thick belt. Pops was mostly a Land's End man, although he also owned a few Lacostes. He blended 80s tennis preppy with Southwestern desert vibes. He had style!
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