If you want to dance and dress ballroom, that's different. I have seen many fantastic ballroom dancers on a country-western dance floor. But nothing looks funnier to me than a rhinestone cowboy doing hand and toe pointing moves like John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever. Ballroom and country-western both have their places, but I, personally, don't think the styles should be mixed up. There is definitely a fork in the road on the way to learning how to country-western dance.
Some people learn to do it for competition, and some people just do it for fun.
Now don't take this cowboy outfit stuff too seriously. Cowboys don't all look alike. Cowboys pride themselves on their individuality. The shape of their hat is as unique as their personality. A cowboy may take years to settle in on a hat shape, but once he does, you can recognize him from a distance just by his silhouette.