Cowboy couture is riding a wave of popularity, but for every guy who loves his Lucchese boots and every gal who treasures her concha belt, there are a dozen more who wouldn’t be caught dead in Western wear.
And the opposing camps are clearly visible when the National Western Stock Show is in town.
Those on the anti-Western side of the corral likely remember the cheesy polyester shirts and trophy buckle belts that stampeded into stores after “Urban Cowboy” hit movie theaters in 1980. Or they associate the clothing with a rural lifestyle at odds with their city sensibilities.
It’s also generational. Older baby boomers grew up watching such TV shows as “Gunsmoke” and “Bonanza,” wearing holsters and toting toy guns.
Then they raised their children on “Star Wars” movies and Nintendo games, and – surprise – the new kids don’t share their parents’ nostalgia for chaps, spurs and the Wild West.
Fans of Western wear fall into a few categories, chief among them people who just live and love the Western lifestyle, whether they wear their jeans and snap shirt daily on the farm, ranch or rodeo circuit; or save them for stock show week, the dance floor of the Grizzly Rose or trips to the mountains.
The truth is that there are many facets to Western wear. “It means a lot of different things to different people,” says Daniel DeWeese, editor of Western Lifestyle Retailer magazine. A New Yorker might look at a Colorado cowboy, rancher or rodeo princess’ attire as a costume, “but it’s never a costume to the core market,” he says.
And the lines are blurring between the Western and mainstream markets as younger customers who make up the core market want their jeans to be just as fashionable as other denim sold at the mall, says Cathy Hagerty Soden, design director for Cinch, Cruel Girl and Rockies, brands made by Rocky Mountain Clothing Co. in Denver.
Function is always important but “customers are much more aware of how they want their jeans to look,” she says.
The Western market is getting a boost from such sources as Style.com, which dubs one of the top trends this season “New Frontier.” And this month’s Harper’s Bazaar has a “Best Western” layout of items that promise to “kick-start your wardrobe.” All proof, DeWeese says, “that Western wear is having a huge influence on mainstream fashion.”
Popular culture continues to play a role too. The straw cowgirl hat Julia Roberts wore in “Runaway Bride” has been hot ever since the movie came out in 1999, and Madonna’s sparkly rodeo queen hats and clothes in her 2000 “Music” album and videos had an impact too.
“Western wear has been a hip thing among models, TV and movie stars,” and that filters down, DeWeese says.
“It will start with celebrities and boutiques on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, then everyone else follows them,” says Steve Weil, vice president of Rockmount Ranch Wear in Denver. “A year later, it works down to the Wal-Mart in Texarkana.”
Rockmount recently supplied more than a dozen of its signature snap-front shirts to rock guitarist and composer Eric Clapton. The musician told Weil he was a fan of authentic Western wear but didn’t know where to get it until he found a Rockmount shirt in an English boutique.
Clapton joins Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and even Elvis Presley as having worn Rockmount shirts. Western wear appeals to musicians because “there’s a creative individuality to it, an edginess,” Weil says. “It’s a rejection of conventional fashion, the boring mainstream.”
Rockmount shirts also are worn by the actors who portray gay cowboy lovers in “Brokeback Mountain,” now in movie theaters. Was Weil concerned about the subject matter being too edgy? “We realize this is not everybody’s cup of tea, but the real issue is that the movie is a work of art, and we love being associated with Annie Proulx, Ang Lee and Larry McMurtry,” he says.
While companies such as Rockmount specialize in Western wear, few top American designers on Seventh Avenue regularly use Western motifs. Ralph Lauren is among the few to have done collections inspired by the West.
Rather it’s the Europeans who tend to showcase it. The trendy label Dsquared paraded male models in ultra-low rise jeans, leather vests and string ties at its spring 2006 show in Milan, Italy. Female models wore calico and denim dresses, waist-cinching leather cummerbunds, embroidered suede jackets.
“The Europeans view (Western wear) from a distance that we can’t,” says Tyler Thoreson, executive editor at men.style.com, the website for GQ and Details magazines. “They’re an ocean away and can look at American iconography and just go with it. We’re too close to it to have that much fun with it.”
But that’s OK, because in America, Western is becoming a classic, Weil says. “It has earned a credibility and doesn’t necessarily cycle in and out of fashion as it did in the past,” he says.
“Parts of Western are staple and just as much in fashion this season as the next, whether it’s a hat or boots or a belt. It’s a firm part of the fashion scene and will remain so for the long haul.”
Love it or loathe it, Western is here to stay.
Staff writer Suzanne S. Brown can be reached at 303-820-1697 or sbrown@denverpost.com.
