Cowboy Boots in the City? Why Western Style Is Trending

Olie Arnold, style director of online retailer Mr Porter, described “a recent resurgence in Western style,” noting that the site has seen an uptick in searches for items like Western shirts and belts in comparison to last year. And Tecovas, a direct-to-consumer Western-boot brand based in Texas that counts metropolises like New York and Chicago among its biggest markets, has experienced over 50% sales growth year-to-date. Outdoor-lifestyle retailer Huckberry doubled its sales of Western-inspired gear this season. Nearly sold out in most sizes: Taylor Stitch’s Sherpa-lined Western Shirt Jacket and Billy Reid’s black denim shirts. “After a year in sweatpants and slippers,” said Ben O’Meara, Huckberry’s vice president of marketing, “I think a lot of people are going back to the foundations, investing in timeless, hard-wearing styles.”

Western wear has cycled in and out of fashion over the past decade. During his mid-2010s tenure as Saint Laurent’s creative director,

Hedi Slimane

released herds of rock ’n’ roll cowboy styles: pointed boots, cowhide jackets and belts with ornate oversize buckles. Belgian designer

Raf Simons

pushed metal-tipped roper boots and yoked, silk snap-shirts during his short stint at the head of Calvin Klein that ended in 2018. More recently, Emily Adams Bode has brought a dusty prairie vibe to the streets of New York with jackets made from antique quilts.

As designers mined the potential of Western style, it was also bubbling up in pop culture: “Westworld,” “Yellowstone” and the videogame series “Red Dead Redemption” put cowboys back in America’s living rooms. In the midst of this surge, the Studio Museum in Harlem opened “Black Cowboy,” a 2016 photography show that questioned the whitewashed iconography of the American West. And in 2019, Lil Nas X’s twanging earworm “Old Town Road” went viral. He wore a hot-pink Versace cowboy get-up to grab his two Grammys.

Some of the look’s appeal might be rooted in its duality: Western style feels as authentically American and traditionally masculine as John Wayne, but it’s also high camp, a set of symbols that has been riffed on and inverted to signify queerness.

The Wild West and its clothes also signify freedom and wide-open spaces—themes that feel particularly relevant after months of lockdowns. Denim shirts still carry a whiff of Marlboro Man rebellion that business-casual polos can’t deliver. “One of the enduring parts of the dream of the American West is that freedom,” said Texas-raised designer Peter Middleton, who founded menswear brand Wythe New York in 2019. Western wear offers the “freedom to reinvent yourself, too,” he added. As we step back into regular life, “a lot of guys are trying it out…trying to see who they are again.”

One such guy is Tommy Buckett, a celebrity hairstylist in New York. Mr. Buckett, 40, has always flirted with Western style, but post-lockdown life has inspired him to dig in his heels. “I am sick of wearing pajamas,” said Mr. Buckett, whose most recent buys were vintage crocodile cowboy boots and a gray, wide-brim felt hat from New York brand Burris. “I’m really ready to dress up. And Western, it’s just fun.”

Though Western style is bigger in Paris, Texas, than in Paris, France, Stéphane Hoareau, a 44-year-old lawyer living in the French city, is fond of shocking his Breton-loving countrymen by mixing cowboy elements into his wardrobe as “a tribute” to “the idea of freedom…the possibility for me to wear what I want, without paying attention to other people’s opinion.”

But Mr. Hoareau advises against going whole hog. He’ll wear his Stetson hat with a classic pair of Levis 501s, a navy blazer and some Belgian loafers to “find a good balance between rusticity and refinement.” Mr. Buckett agrees that blending Western pieces with other styles is essential if you’re hoping to distance yourself from rodeo clowns. “Just pick one or two things…Go for the boots and the belt buckle or the cowboy hat and a denim jacket.” Another handy trick, he said, is pairing Western accessories with a slick, all-black outfit, a la Johnny Cash.

For a master class in juxtaposition, look to Americana legend Ralph Lauren, who has been civilizing Western fashion since the 1970s, combining denim shirts with tweed and dusty bluejeans with tuxedo jackets.

To achieve entry-level Ralph, add a bit of flair to an otherwise staid outfit with a suede shirt or a neckerchief from Ginew. Or, combine one of Wythe’s shirts—which boast pointed yokes and pearl-snap buttons—with black jeans and velvet mules. The look wouldn’t fare too well on the Oregon Trail, but it will equip you to brave more adjacent frontiers this summer: say, a rooftop bar.

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