The Trend Taking America by Storm: Cowboy Core

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We at ELYSIAN like to keep our finger on the pulse of trends, even if we don’t necessarily plan on participating, because it’s always fun to stay sharp with what is popular. As we all know, fashion is ever cyclical, and it’s always a lark to shop your closet and pull out old favorite pieces that can get new life reimagined in a new decade. Currently, we are loving the prairie chic, spaghetti western, cowboy core that is making a resurgence.

You can see it everywhere. In Beyonce’s long-awaited Cowboy Carter album which pays homage to country music’s legends.  With a feature in the New York Times and multiple spreads in People Magazine, you maybe have seen the wedding weekend looks from Bachelor franchise stalwart Nick Viall and his now wife, Savannah royalty Natalie Joy. It was the epitome of cowboy core, and the popularity is in a way, a constant in American fashion. (Speaking of Savannah, were you a part of our Health and Wellness Summit at the gorgeous Hotel Bardo? See what you missed on the virtual summit here).

For some, western chic is an eternal classic. But really, when did cowboy core truly take root in its current modern form? Maybe, it was the premiere of Yellowstone in 2018 and the rise of Beth Dutton as a style icon, or the rise of the country music Stagecoach in Indio, CA splashed across influencers’ pages on Instagram. Finding fresh cowboy core inspiration is as simple as a search on any platform, and the examples are plentiful.

The best way to embrace the trend is not just in cowboy boots and a sundress, but to truly revel in the romanticism of it all. Like a vixen from a Spaghetti western, embodying the sensuality of Bridget Bardot in Les Pétroleuses (1971) in the saturated hints of counterculture, and subversion of the American style of that film era.

For those unfamiliar, a spaghetti western is a subgenre of Western films that emerged in the mid-1960s. These movies earned the nickname “spaghetti westerns” because they were often filmed in Italy or Spain, rather than in the American West, and many of the filmmakers were Italian (though some were French). The term was originally used pejoratively by American critics, but it has since become widely accepted. The tanned, perfectly disheveled, romantic looks of the women featured in these movies have had a lasting impact on fashion.

So, if you’re so inclined, dust off your turquoise jewelry, put on that bulky belt, step into your cowboy boots and embrace this enduring American style.