Photos by Anaya Salcedo
These boots were made for strutting across a runway, and that’s just what they did this past year. From Copenhagen Fashion Week on a boardwalk that became Ganni’s makeshift catwalk, to fall fashion month at the Ralph Lauren runway show. That’s where cowboy boots were showcased at the home of the California Cowboy: The West Coast, but Ralph Lauren has been showcasing the western shoe since the 1970’s (the Golden Age of Hollywood and Western Films). Plus, the world was hot on the shoe’s slanted heels long before then.
It all started in the 19th century, when a Colorado cowboy asked The Hyer Company to make him a work boot. The post-Civil War footwear Charles Hyer is credited to have designed, became functional for holding a stirrup, thanks to its signature pointed toe. Since then, the boots has had both days in the sun riding on a horse and moments in the spotlight. You may recognize its star-spangled power over the decades, like Marilyn Monroe’s Valentine’s photo-shoot in a two-piece western set in the 1950s, to all those cowboy blockbusters in the ‘70s, a stint amongst British royal, Princess Diana’s off-duty wardrobe in the ‘80s, and then the bohemian take on the shoe during the “noughties.”
Cowboy boots even lived their teenage dream in the early and late 2000s, as the shoe of choice for coming-of-age celebs like Rihanna and Taylor Swift, who would become some of the most famous figures in the world. During that period, it also cemented its alter ego, as a Boho chic option at Coachella, on modern style icons like Sienna Miller and Kendall Jenner. After a brief hiatus following the late 2010s, cowboy boots became the hottest boot trend of 2022.
These cowboy boots in a dark chocolate brown with white chocolate swirlies are a decadent take on the shoe, historically meant for work, or country comfort. I mixed it with another hot fashion trend for the 2022-2023 autumn/winter season: a multi-colored Ganni sweater vest. The green, blue, and pink hues pick up on the embroidered design of this suede skirt that my mom used to rock in the early aughts. Then my grandmother’s Dior earrings polish everything off with a pearl gold-rimmed finish.
For certain circles, including my native Central Valley, cowboy boots are a part of a lifestyle rather than a fad. While the shoe has come and go in my life (I had a pair in high school and kept them until my junior year of college and haven’t worn any since), I have a deep admiration for the sentimentality they hold have for many. Perhaps when daughters from country towns first danced with their fathers, they stepped on his pointed toe boots to keep up with the steps. Other children may have worn mini pairs to match their parental figures at work. Teens and college girls have delighted in decked-out editions at a country music concert. Needless to say, cowboy boots will be on rotation all season for me, and perhaps long after that.
Keeping it Krischic,
Kristin Vartan
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Keeping it Krischic 