What to Wear in Las Vegas in December

Dress for the rodeo, and the cold comes with it. NOAA's figures for Harry Reid International make December the city's coldest month, at 14°C / 57°F by afternoon and 4.2°C before dawn, with about 3 days of rain. From 3 to 12 December the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, in Las Vegas since 1985, stages ten performances at the Thomas & Mack Center, each at 5:45pm, after sunset at about 4:30. By day Cowboy Christmas, the rodeo's official gift show, fills the Convention Center with more than 375 exhibitors of western wear, boots and spurs. So the capsule is Western on purpose: tan suede fringe over a camel knit, straight jeans, a tooled belt, pointed boots and a felt hat. One rule shapes the bag: the NFR's clear-bag policy.

The capsule

1. 
   01

   Tan suede cropped Western jacket, fringe across the yoke and sleeves

   Wear it open to Cowboy Christmas in the Convention Center's South Halls and to the rodeo after. Tan suede cropped at the waist shows off the tooled belt, and fringe across the yoke and sleeves is what makes the jacket read Western from the far side of an arena. It is warm enough for a 14°C / 57°F afternoon; after dark it needs the camel knit underneath.

2. 
   02

   Camel fine-gauge crew knit

   Nights fall to 4.2°C, and the main doors at the Thomas & Mack Center open at 4:15pm, at about sunset, so you arrive in the first cold hour of the night. A camel fine-gauge crew goes under the suede without adding bulk at the shoulder and tucks into the jeans at the belt. Camel sits so close to the tan of the jacket and boots that the whole outfit reads as one run of browns.

3. 
   03

   Navy cotton button-down shirt

   Afternoons reach 14°C / 57°F and most days are dry, which is shirt weather with a knit in the bag. A navy cotton button-down is the one dark colour in a capsule of tan, camel and denim, and it tucks cleanly behind the silver buckle. Wear it to Cowboy Christmas when the doors open at 9am, sleeves rolled by noon, and change into the knit before the 5:45pm performance.

4. 
   04

   Mid-wash straight-leg jeans, cuffed, light fading

   Pack one pair and wear it every day of the trip: denim shrugs off arena seats, a dusty Red Rock pull-off and a morning on a Convention Center floor. Straight, not skinny, because a straight mid-wash leg falls cleanly over a boot shaft or turns up above it in a cuff. The light fading keeps it from looking bought for the week.

5. 
   05

   Tan leather cowboy boots, pointed toe

   Break them in before you fly. Cowboy Christmas runs from 9am to 4pm every day from 3 to 12 December, and a day on those hall floors followed by a 5:45pm rodeo is a long stretch in new boots. Tan leather with a pointed toe matches the suede jacket closely, and a boot heel sits right under a straight jean without the hem catching.

6. 
   06

   Brown tooled-leather Western belt, silver buckle

   Tuck the knit in so the buckle shows: that is what a jacket cropped at the waist is cut for. Brown tooled leather matches the hat, and the silver buckle repeats the concho on its band, so the two read as a set across the arena. A plain brown strap under one silver buckle also leaves room for any custom jewellery you bring home from Cowboy Christmas.

7. 
   07

   Brown felt cowboy hat, silver concho band

   Felt, not straw, because this hat works after dark: the performance starts at 5:45pm, more than an hour after a sunset at about half past four, on a night heading for 4.2°C. A brown felt crown with a silver concho band finishes what the fringe jacket and pointed boots begin. Pack it crown-down in the case with socks inside, so the brim lands in Las Vegas the shape it left home.

8. 
   08

   Clear crossbody bag with tan leather trim

   Plan the bag around the rule, not the outfit. The NFR runs a clear-bag policy at all ten performances, so your evening bag has to be see-through. A clear crossbody with tan leather trim worn across the body leaves both hands free for a programme and a drink, and the trim ties it to the boots and the jacket. By day it carries a phone, a card and lip balm through the South Halls.

A suggested look — tan suede fringe jacket, camel fine-gauge crew, mid-wash straight jeans, tooled western belt, tan cowboy boots.

What to avoid

• An opaque bag at the rodeo — a clear-bag policy covers all ten performances
• A 5:40pm arrival — metal detectors at every entrance, main doors at 4:15pm
• Suede over a bare shirt — nights fall to 4.2°C
• Red Rock on Christmas afternoon — the Scenic Drive closes at noon on 25 December
• Ethel M's cactus lights on Christmas night — closed on the 25th