Sorry scarlet, it isn't so much that I want to look like a tourist as I want to look put together enough to get service in shops that tend to cater to tourists or just the segment of the community that work or have spouses that work in our two "money" industries. I'd also like to be able to travel and go to galleries and museums and some of the fancier restaurants without them following me around like I am going to steal something or break something (which is particularly annoying or offensive since I worked with art and artifacts worth millions of dollars at my last place of employment) or seating me by the kitchen where no other patrons can see me. I'd like to feel comfortable rather than scrutinized in a negative light.
The tourist look tends to be a little flashy, feminine and impractical and relies heavily on expensive statement pieces like high end bags and shoes. That or we get a lot of women from elsewhere in the west/southwest that wear a ton of "southwestern" jewelry and bejeweled cowboy boots and cowhide and fringe-- very OTT.
I could very easily wear skinny jeans with a floral blouse, dressy booties, a fancy purse and lots of jewelry and fit in, but it isn't my style-- I like to incorporate the masculine and rugged with classic stuff. This is also highly impractical since for most of the year I couldn't wear the pumps, booties and heeled sandals these women wear in my yard with the gravel drive or in the parking lot of several of our restaurants. I also wouldn't feel safe wearing an outfit like that if I broke down on one of our largely abandoned stretches of rural highway or on the reservation dressed like that--- I live somewhere very safe, but dressing impractically and flashy/like a tourist would put me at risk of being hassled in the least. I'd also not want to go visiting the pawn and secondhand shops looking for dead pawn dressed flashy.
Also, if you were buying something from a smaller shop that isn't as high end or buying from the actual artisan or from a trading post that is run cooperatively, you generally get things from a much better price and have more luck networking and being treated with respect rather than in a patronizing way if you aren't dressed like that. Most places that aren't hugely high end have a separate locals' price that can be way cheaper than what is marked and are willing to barter and bargain. I have some beautiful jewelry that I've paid a 1/5 of what the artists would try to sell it at a gallery for (partially because the galleries get a large cut, partially because they know they can't sucker me, and partially because the artists know that I understand the techniques used, the traditions behind the work, and that I will appreciate the pieces and wear them respectfully).
There is also a certain level of dressing respectfully that I try to maintain. When visiting Taos I might spend half a day of an weekend trip visiting the pueblo itself, either doing the tourist thing or visiting friends and contacts there. It would be appropriate to look very clean and put-together, but practical for walking around dusty dirt streets and being befriended by a pack of rez dogs. Dressing flashy, particularly by showing a lot of skin/tight clothes and high heels or expensive "look at me items" would be very inappropriate. It would also be inappropriate to wear gear or tourist clothing since you have essentially been invited to someone's home and not to a tourist spectacle. Even archeological sites that don't require gear because of the difficulty or length of the hike are important places to dress respectfully in very neat casual wear or smart casual as many of them are considered ancestral homes or sacred places by living people that still visit.
However, on the same day that I visit the pueblo or the plaza where they have open air merchants, I might also spend time touring the galleries.
I suppose I was just trying to figure out if looking clean and put together but not wearing flashy or expensive pieces or "city" or "texas cattle baron" styles was enough to help me blend in both locations, or if I simply have to settle for receiving sub-par treatment in the places that don't cater to locals.
