04/01/2024
In the summer of 2023, popular culture was obsessing over the color pink due to Greta Gerwig’s Barbie — but by the fall, soccer kits were all anyone could talk about. Then with the turn of the new year, it seemed that cowboy hats and western boots, came back into prominence, shifting the collective gaze to a vital culture of the American experience. Moments that spurred the trend and the ensuing discussions around it into high gear include Pharrell Williams’ Western-themed Fall/Winter 2024 collection at Louis Vuitton, a Black Pioneer collection from Timberland and of course Beyonce’s new album, Cowboy Carter. But as the Wild West moves beyond fashion and into the parameters of popular culture, it’s not just a new “core.” Instead, the creatives pushing the conversation are taking a larger viewpoint on the narratives of Black and Indigenous people within Western and Country culture.
From Louis Vuitton’s FW24 menswear show to Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter,’ cowboy hats and boots have a much richer history.
