Clothes & Custer

A big part of being a writer is promoting your work. I’ve been busy the last few days trying to do just that for the Elizabeth Custer book due to be released in April 2011. I’m excited about the launch, not only because the book will be out and available for everyone to read, but because several of Elizabeth’s personal items are set to be on display at the occasion. I contacted a women’s history museum in hopes that the book and the never-before-seen items would prompt the folks at the facility to say, “Yes! We’d love to host the book launch!” They didn’t say that. They couldn’t have been less interested. I’ll move on – confused by the response, but wiser. Maybe there’s a men’s history museum that will be more receptive – or a fashion museum. Elizabeth Custer was a very stylishly dressed woman. She created a variety of new looks out on the plains using cavalry jacket’s and military caps. She was daring. Trendsetters always are. People like Elizabeth Custer have been obsessed with trends and fashion ever since the Garden of Eden when Eve said to Adam, “You know, that fig leaf you have on is so last season.” I think most everyone is a bit obsessed with trends and fashion. Fashion is the way humans provide what nature didn’t. It’s our plumage, our fur, our scales. Now, since Our Maker, who by the way designs for the House of God, did not provide us with fancy tail feathers, we wear clothing. During the prehistoric times everyone wore the same thing every day. I mean, look at Wilma Flintstone. She’s always sporting the same tight, short skirt with the shredded zigzag cut three inches above her knee. Oh, that Wilma! As I’ve been reviewing the photos I have of Elizabeth Custer I’ve been admiring her style and thinking about my own tired look and I’ve come up with three basic rules for fashion: 1 – Never wear a Budwiser cap with a Coors T-shirt. Commit. 2 – Hey, Levi Strauss. 501’s? 505’s? 509’s? What am I, buying pants or catching a train? 3 – When using a Magic Marker to color in your ankle to cover a hole in your sock, make sure the Magic Marker color matches the socks. If Elizabeth’s sole contribution to history was the fact that she was sporting the military look long before it was considered chic, I could see why a women’s museum wouldn’t be interested in a showing of her things. But that’s not the case with Libbie. She was an author, lecturer, and a faithful army wife who witnessed first-hand the taming of the wild frontier. She’ll be remembered long after the women’s history museum has been closed for lack of funding and torn down to make room for a mall filled with shops selling cavalry style jackets and military caps.