Showmanship Jacket - Even More Options

These comments are really wonderful to have! Thank you! A special Thanks to JenJ who pointed out a terrible mistake I was about to make: Tan surrounding my face. I have recently learned the hard way how dreadful I look whilst wearing a tan shirt. That's what happens when you order from the interwebz and don't try on the tan shirt before purchasing. You'd think I would have remembered this!

Also the tan starts looking a bit like that faux-nude skating outfit stuff that eventer79 snarked about....

I had made this sad realization already and I was shopping for latin dance clothes last winter and was somewhat crestfallen to find that western show clothes also look like men's latin dance shirts....
That one on the left is a current Hobby Horse item. Derp.

AND one of the versions I was working on last night had to be abandoned because it looked too much like a drum major uniform. I've already played that game... in was green/silver/black sequined.... ah, memories of a band geek...
I think western show clothing has become much more of a "Costume" than clothing. And it is a SHOW afterall so I guess that's to be expected. I was watching the Masters Western Pleasure class at Congress once and I SWEAR this lady had mini lights in her jacket because she continuously sparkled like twinkle lights- it was rather tacky, actually.... or maybe not....

So I've come up with a few new versions that (hopefully look less like skating, ballroom and marching band) have some sparkle but not too much (no lights), and will allow me to keep the black hat but still get more brightness around my face. The white will act as a reflector under the black hat. No new hat, no new hat can. I've also included In2Paint's idea of blue but not I used it as an accent rather than the all over color. Still trying to work with what I've already got, you know. The same year I buy a brand new saddle is not the year to buy a colored SMS outfit that requires me to custom dye boots! And didn't you remember I already DID blue?!?! :)

This version is with silver metallic lines over black airbrushing which I am a little nervous about screwing up, but it will really help give dimension. Since white is so easily dirty I'll also add airbrushing around the cuffs since those will be dirty first. I can play around with exactly where the stones go but I like the idea of 3-4 different hues together and possibly some clear or AB crystals, too, since it's on white. I'll have to get earrings that match the accent color.

Then the version with the copper lines, the same airbrushing, 3 colors of Topaz stones and tiny black stones.

Another option would be make one short jacket to work with both.

This Shortened version doesn't really look all that different so maybe I only need to make one jacket. It still has the longer vertical line that the top one has because black on black will mask the place the jacket ends and the pants begin. Plus then I don't have to worry about where the belt buckle and the chaps buckle attempt to share the same space on my body, which I learned with the purple outfit. With the jacket from last year I wore stretch pants under the chaps and no belt since it was not seen and that was much more comfortable. The APHA rules don't seem to require a belt. Does anyone know about AQHA? I'm showing open, but it's nice to know which rules I'm breaking. :)

But is the asymmetry bad for horsemanship? Or is this symmetrical enough for the level I show at? Not too crazy for horsemanship but not too boring for SMS/WP?

Thoughts!?!