The West is the largest region of North America, and as such, there are many "Wests," so generalizations are by nature flawed. That said, the Intermountain mining West, in particular, was highly urbanized (and remains so to this day). As soon as one ventured west of the point where dry farming (working the land without irrigation - a meandering line that cuts through Nebraska and the Dakotas) was possible, more and more people clustered in towns and cities. This was particularly true of the underground mining districts, which developed precious metals.

All this is to say that the image of a lone, sweating rancher and his haggard wife, while that too was part of the West, was a minority. Most people lived in urban situations that were often international in composition with trade ties that linked it to the world. And this meant that people had access to international fashion trends.

Numerous nineteenth-century primary sources point to women, in particular, flaunting the latest fashions from Paris and going to great lengths to purchase the best fabrics so seamstresses could craft them dresses.

There is an excellent article on this in Ronald M. James and C. Elizabeth Raymond, editors, Comstock Women: The Making of a Mining Community (1998) - Janet I Loverin and Robert A. Nylen, "Creating a Fashionable Society: Comstock Needleworkers from 1860 to 1880.