The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders are recognizable worldwide: That royal blue blouse, white fringe vest and short shorts — all strategically spangled with 15 stars — have come to represent America’s Sweethearts.
Now, the DCC are cementing their place in history by donating team artifacts to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in a ceremony Monday. More than a dozen pieces, including the first NFL poster ever to feature cheerleaders circa the ’70s, a beloved squad teddy bear and, yes, those iconic uniforms and white cowboy boots will be housed in the museum.
Paula Van Wagoner, who designed the now-ubiquitous original uniform in 1972, swears, “It did not change my life one bit!”
“In 1972 I was a fashion designer in Dallas and my boss came to me and said, ‘Do you want to design a uniform for the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, sure,'” Van Wagoner tells The Post. “I did special things like that all the time. This was like designing something for a runway show, or a chef’s apron, it just wasn’t anything new for me.”
A visit to Tex Schramm, the team’s general manager at the time, helped focus her vision.
“He said, ‘These are not gonna be regular cheerleaders, these are gonna be beautiful dancing girls. So they need uniforms where they can move around a lot and it has to have something to do with the Cowboys theme,'” she says. “And it had to be really sexy, but it had to be in good taste.”
Just two days later, Van Wagoner returned to Schramm with her work.
“And he just said, ‘Well, we have to see it on a body.’ So I went and put it on … I was the first person to wear the uniform — it was a little bit different in those days. And they liked it, and that’s exactly what we went with.”
Van Wagoner had sketched two looks with “interchangeable” parts: the shorts-and-blouse combo seen today, and another ensemble with a belt that had a long fringe skirt and a bodysuit.
“They just stuck with the one with the shorts after the first year because the fringe did not wear well,” she said.
Obviously there have been tweaks to the look over the years: In the ’90s, they flirted with a higher-rise V-style waistband and dabbled with cowboy hats before settling on the current look. Giant pom-poms made to grab the attention of fans in the back row have given way to punchier, smaller poms, which pop on the Jumbotron.
The first boots were white with a low block heel.
“That was what was in style then: Go-go boots and hot pants!” Van Wagoner says.
They made the switch to cowboy boots in 1989. The boots the ladies wear today are special boots with a 1.5-inch heel by storied Texas bootmaker Lucchese (fans can purchase a similar pair on their site for a cool $550).
“They’ve made minor adjustments,” says Van Wagoner of the uniform evolution. “They’re a little bit briefer than they were before.”
The modern uniforms, which are handcrafted by uniform maker Lisa Dobson, have added sparkle on the stars, fringe and buckle, and each is custom fit to each cheerleader’s body.
“I feel proud every time I see them,” says Van Wagoner. “And I still can’t believe they’re wearing the same [look] after 46 years!”