Western Wear Is Back in the Saddle Again
It is past high noon at Out of Santa Fe, and a half-dozen customers are moseying around the store admiring such Southwestern imports as horn-back alligator boots and authentic Indian drums.
“Is this fun or what?” a woman in her 30s asks her companion, seizing a purple cowboy boot by Rocketbuster which has cartoon-like appliques of cacti in dyed leather. She is unfazed by the $469 price tag.
“I may have to get these,” she says.
At the jewelry case, a woman and her teen-age daughter ogle the gleaming silver creations by Navajo artist Ray Tracey. The girl, wearing a felt black cowboy hat, blue jeans and boots, has fallen in love with a ring. When they hear the price--in the neighborhood of $2,000--neither bats a cowgirl’s eyelash.
Such demand for higher-end Southwest clothes and accessories proves what such fashion bibles as Vogue and Women’s Wear Daily have been saying for months: Western wear is riding high.
“There’s an enormous momentum to Western wear,” says Ted Greve, buyer and general manager for Out of Santa Fe in Newport Center Fashion Island. “Blue jeans and cowboy boots are a good look, a real look. People are getting back to basics.”
The trend toward Western wear has been spurred on in part by the growing popularity of country music, Greve says. Country singer Garth Brooks has crossed into the music industry’s mainstream, while dance clubs are switching to country and holding cowboy boogies.
“This is not the frenzy (created by the movie) ‘Urban Cowboy.’ This is slower, gradual and we hope longer-lasting,” Greve says.
Especially in times of recession, people are more careful about what they buy, he says. “They tend to look for things that are timeless.”
Once inside Out of Santa Fe it’s easy to forget you’re in a mall and not a pueblo--an illusion made possible by the red flagstone and hand-stripped wood beams imported from New Mexico. Hand-painted Southwest furniture by Ernest Thompson shows off the merchandise.
“It’s not your traditional Western store,” Greve says. “Everything has a Southwest twist, but it’s also fashion-forward.”
Clothes and accessories come mainly from Santa Fe, Taos and Albuquerque. Out of Santa Fe is the only place to find most of the merchandise in Orange County and, in some cases, in all of California.
Cowboy boots are a house specialty. They come in cowhide, goatskin, lizard, elk, deerskin, alligator, ostrich and even anteater. What’s not on the shelves can be custom-ordered to the color, styling and size of one’s choice.
Greve favors a pair of $2,000 horn-back alligator boots made from the back of the animal instead of the belly so the scales are real nubby. Less exotic boots start at $195.
Rocketbusters, replicas of 1930s and ‘40s boots, feature leather overlays of American Indians and bucking broncos on their shafts. Lucchese produces fine all-leather boots (made with brass nails and hand-driven lemon wood pegs) that have been worn by actors, Presidents and other urban cowboys.
Especially hot for women: Shoe boots by Nocona made of deer, lizard and a soft nubuck that cut below the ankle like a regular shoe but are of stout boot construction.
“They invented them at the request of square dancers who complained about their feet being too hot when they danced,” Greve says.
Inside glass cases are silver belt buckles and ranger sets that consist of a buckle, belt tip and one or two keepers to hold the strap in place. They’re made and signed by 12 to 15 artists from New Mexico and sell for $69 to $2,000. Customers can choose from a variety of straps to go with the buckles.
Dale Harris’s hand-pounded silver buckles are more like fine jewelry with their gold overlay and detailed scroll work.
Contemporary Southwest jewelry fills the other cases and the pieces are a long way from some of the poorly made turquoise jewelry that flooded the market in the ‘70s. Ray Tracey’s clean, simple jewelry designs feature colorful gemstones such as opal, malachite, sugalite and lapis cut into geometric shapes and inlaid in sleek silver and gold bracelets, earrings, necklaces and rings.
Classic cowboy shirts for men and women are typical of timeless attire. Rockmount Ranch Wear does reproductions of cowboy shirts the company made in the ‘30s, with Western yokes, white pearl buttons and “smile” pockets. Some shirts come in solid denim, others are white with flowers embroidered on the yoke. They sell for $65 to $85.
Women are also rediscovering broomstick skirts, full tiered skirts of cotton that are tied around broomsticks when wet then unfurled to get the heavy pleats. One skirt comes in bright red, another in a campy cowboy print.
“They’re coming back like a house afire,” Greve says. They look great paired with a cowboy shirt and hand-loomed vest by Liz Ence of Utah.
Dusters (coats originally worn by cowboys to keep the dust off when they ride) are another hot item for city slickers. Out of Santa Fe has a denim duster with a leather collar by Australian Outback. Cowboys who want to wear them riding can unbutton the slit up the back and jump in the saddle.
“I wear them with broomstick skirts and boots,” says store owner Tamara Box.
Greve and Box began Out of Santa Fe three years ago from a kiosk, which still operates a few yards from the store. To expand their inventory and carry higher-end merchandise they opened the new store in November.
The fact that Box was raised in Colorado and Greve was raised in New Mexico helps them find the best of the West. Greve travels home every eight to 10 weeks to buy for the store and “to get hot and spicy food.”
He has developed one-on-one relationships with the designers, which helps him seek out things exclusive to Out of Santa Fe.
“We found there’s a real market for quality” Southwest items, Greve says. “This is not a curios shop stocked with rubber tomahawks.”
Out of Santa Fe will hold a trunk show of hand-painted silk Western wear by Riflefire May 13-15.
