From the Stetson dancers who accompanied Ryan Gosling during his Oscar performance to Beyoncé's upcoming premiere cowboy carter In the country era, the Wild West aesthetic is once again at the center of pop culture. However, this isn't the style's first rodeo.
Ahead of the Grammys in February, Lana Del Rey announced she's going country for her next album. Days later, during the Super Bowl, Beyoncé released two country singles, one of which, “Texas Hold 'Em,” immediately topped the Billboard Hot 100. Her new album, cowboy carter, comes out March 29.
Two major pop music acts going country made an immediate impact on trends. According to data from the fashion retailer. BoohooGoogle searches for “cowboy hat” increased 212.5% following Beyoncé’s Super Bowl ad and searches for “bolo tie” skyrocketed 566%.
Since then, the cowboy style has appeared everywhere, from fashion to music and wedding themes. Model and trendsetter Bella Hadid has been seen at rodeos supporting her equestrian boyfriend Adán Bañuelos with cowboy hats and on the street in boot cut jeans. Ryan Gosling and a “Kens” choir put on Stetsons to perform a song by Barbie at the Oscars, a reference to the cowboy outfits Barbie and Ken wear when they first venture outside of Barbieland. As Louis Vuitton's new menswear creative director, Pharrell Williams launched a January 2024 collection which paid tribute to black and indigenous denim fashion.
Chances are you still have some Western clothing available from the coastal cowgirl craze of 2023, in which TikTokers gave the style a feminine twist with wide-brimmed hats and billowy shirts. Or maybe The “yes” moment of 2019 resonated most with you through Balenciaga's mega-popular cowboy boots, the video game Red Dead Redemption 2 or the widespread popularity of country artists like Kacey Musgraves and Maren Morris.
Classic hats, boots, and rugged elements of workwear may gain popularity year after year, but the style never completely disappears. Cowboy culture is quintessentially American: it represents a time of freedom and self-sufficiency something that's easy to crave in such a digitally connected age.
From the real-life horse herders of the late 19th century to the characters in many John Wayne and Clint Eastwood films of the mid-20th century, making your way through the American West is not only culturally fascinating: it's visually compelling.
That's evident in the fact that Taylor Sheridan's TV show yellow stone, which follows the owners of a huge Montana ranch, was the most viewed series of the 2022-2023 season. Its prequels like 1883 and 1923 continues to attract viewers and generate buzz, serving as a reminder that Americans may not agree on much, but it seems like everyone loves watching cowboys.
As trends resurface in the age of social media, those that are typically left out of the original ultramasculine, Broadly white cowboy narratives can try their hand at wearing these timeless styles. Historians estimate that one in four cowboys in the American West was black, and the cowboy style was strongly influenced by Mexican cowboys, but people of color rarely appeared as cowboys in pop culture representations of the time. The impact of black country music artists has also long been ignored. according to experts. Beyonce fans have said They expect the singer's foray into the genre as part of it Renaissance The album series shines a spotlight on forgotten black artists who came before her, such as Charley Pride and Lesley Riddle.
Beyoncé's mother, Tina Knowles, wrote on Instagram that she “always celebrated cowboy culture growing up” in Texas, attending rodeos and wearing Western fashion.
“We also always understood that it wasn't just about belonging solely to white culture,” he said. “There's a huge black cowboy culture in Texas.”
He went on to write, “When people ask why Beyoncé wears cowboy hats. It's so funny, I actually laugh because she's been there since she was a little girl.”
Even after the release of Beyoncé's new album, there are still a number of cowboy-inspired projects to look forward to in the coming months, including April's country music festival. Diligence and the release of Kevin Costner's first four-part Western film Horizon in June.
Although the prevalence of real-life ranch hands and territorial tough guys may have waned over the years, the cowboy style is so undeniably cool and quintessentially American that it will always return to our cultural hall.
