If the mainstream’s recent embrace of cowboycore has taught us anything, it’s that you don’t have to go full Costner cosplay to capture some of the hardened allure of western wear. It helps, of course, if you really know how to wear cowboy boots.
That’s one way to dip a toe into the movement: a pair of the official state footwear of Texas. Evolved from the equestrian boots popularized in Spain and Mexico, with a slim toe and raised heel meant to slide in and out of the stirrups of a saddle, the first American cowboy boots are believed to have originated in Texas or Kansas in the late 1800s, around the same time Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis were stitching together their first pair of blue jeans a few states westward. Apple, meet pie.
But finishing off a Canadian Tuxedo isn’t the only way to wear cowboy boots. Here’s how to wear cowboy boots right, according to style icons like Pharrell Williams, Billy Bob Thornton, and Ralph Lauren.
Keep Things (Mostly) Classic
