COWBOY FASHION RIDING HIGH ON BEYONCÉ EFFECT
With the pop superstar saddled up, the look that was trending from Paris to Mumbai has now emerged as a globally patchworked phenomenon
When her Cowboy Carter album dropped on March 29, with a full list of songs dedicated to the American West such as “Levii’s Jeans” and cameos with country singers new (Miley Cyrus) and old (Dolly Parton), it underscored an obvious fact: that Beyoncé had entered her cowboy era.
This was not the AfricanAmerican singer’s first rodeo reclaiming a musical genre and evoking it through her fashion. But in a slew of looks celebrating the aesthetic, the singer born and raised in Texas sent online searches for Western wear to an all-time high.
In January, Pharrell Williams, the singer turned creative director of Louis Vuitton, transformed the label’s Paris men’s fashion week catwalk into a giant pop-up box reminiscent of a barren desert.
Models strutted out in cowboy hats, shearling, accessories made in collaboration with Native American artists, Timberland boots, and other nods to the Western aesthetic that Williams called “worker-wear”.
On a different continent, in March, veteran Indian designer Rajesh Pratap Singh showed his polo-inspired collection in collaboration with Argentinian brand La Martina at Mumbai’s Mahalaxmi Racecourse.
Referencing his upbringing in Jaipur, capital of India’s Rajasthan state, in the 1980s, surrounded by “fashion with a nod to the Western look”, Singh offered an Indian take on the Argentinian cowboy aesthetic, which manifested as a dusting of indigenous block prints on breeches and cowboy shirts, checks and longline coats, hats and riding boots.
To search for the beginnings of the cowboy trend – a look punctuated by fringes, denim, embroidery and so much more – would be attempting to find a needle in a Texas-sized haystack.
However, Patricia Mears, deputy director at The Museum at FIT (the Fashion Institute of
Technology), in New York, sheds some light on the trend that explains its resonance.
“Everybody knows that Americans did not invent the blue jean, a staple in the cowboy trend,” she says.
The indigo-dyed twill fabric was “filtered through Americans from Europe, slaves from the south importing technology from Asia as far as India through to western Europe”.
Mears says America’s adoption of mass production enabled brands to sell these clothes to workers in the country, and businessman Levi Strauss in particular branded it as a very Western take on workwear.
Mears explains the cowboy look’s “patchworked” aesthetic.
“Elements like fringe come from indigenous people on the [US] east coast. Suede fringe jackets that Native Americans wore, combined with embroidered elements from Latin America and Eastern Europe, combined with the silhouettes that were often traditional workwear jackets coming out of the men’s tailoring tradition, all [became] melded together,” she says.
Now we are seeing the look go through yet another evolution.
The mid-calf vanilla Paloma boot worn by Beyoncé on her new album cover is made by Milanbased Paris Texas. Its creative director, Annamaria Brivio, says fascination with the Western style goes in cycles and is surging now because of “people seeking versatile pieces that evoke tradition, trans-seasonality and individuality”.
In Brivio’s opinion, Western wear offers precisely that.
The boot seen on Beyoncé, as styled by Shiona Turini, features a sharp pointed toe, stiletto heel and Texas-style panelling for extra flair.
Paris Texas has become the go-to label for fashion-forward cowboy boots, according to Libby Page, market director at online fashion retailer Net-a-Porter, along with US-based label Khaite, particularly for its Dallas boot. In the past six months, Western wear sales have grown in the EU and US markets by 101 and 41 per cent, respectively, Net-a-Porter says, and the trend has taken on new characteristics.
To start, the body is more exposed, Mears says, adding that the rise of “overtly feminine elements” is something a traditional country music singer probably would avoid.
“We’ve seen this [new trend] with Beyoncé and Lana Del Rey, of course, but also [with] one of the most beloved cultural figures in America, Dolly Parton, really bringing this forward in that very controversial performance she just gave at the Super Bowl.”
Parton, now 78, was seen in a cheerleader-inspired cowboy outfit with an abbreviated bikini crop top, denim shorts that stopped short of the mid-thigh, and stars bedazzling a cropped denim jacket.
On social media, another offshoot trend is emerging. Searches for the “Coastal Cowgirl” aesthetic on TikTok have soared, something described by Instyle magazine as “beachy coastal on top and cowgirl rugged from the knee down”. The trend is all nautical prints and patterns, feminine detailing such as ruffles and ribbons, and rugged boots for contrast.
How does a century-old trend capture the imagination of all ages? Perhaps its tight-lasso hold comes down to the fact it has been, since its inception, a globally patchworked phenomenon. In the digital age, its allure across pop culture, beauty, fashion, luxury and travel means it will stay in the collective consciousness for many years to come.
In the meantime, we have celebrities such as the KardashianJenners and Bella Hadid (and new horse-riding boyfriends) to thank.
Everybody knows that Americans did not invent the blue jean, a staple in the cowboy trend PATRICIA MEARS, THE MUSEUM AT FIT