Designer Notes | Western Inspirations
From intricate details to meticulously designed silhouettes, the Western trend continues to amplify and elevate everything from off-duty style to festival fashion.
Hear what our footwear designers have to say on this enduring style trend, and shop our top selects.
What inspired your Western designs this season? (Was it any international trends, brands, or influencers)
Western styling has been bubbling up from street style around the world in recent seasons, inspired by off-duty model dressing to festival styling. With the resurgence of vintage noughties styling and thrifting, the laid-back bohemian aesthetic has been updated with modern heel and rand applications to add to the cool factor. We looked to traditional American Western Boots for stitching inspo and really experimented with dimensionality and multi-stitch rows to create an impactful modern look. We wanted to make the boots wearable for every day and offer an edgy feel to the trend but with longevity so we ranged them in comfortable heel heights and added understated yet cool updates with squared-off rands or chiselled toes to make them stand out.
Nadia Lee Cohen’s campaign for Gant & Wrangler was also iconic and offered a modern yet kitsch take on the trend, she’s an incredible artist and photographer with such a beautifully stylised vision.
Do you have a favourite Western style? Why?
Annie is my favourite style of the season, it has lots of understated design details that I love from the refined chiselled toe shape to the square rand at the toe to the feature stitching. It took a long time to develop and get right but it was worth it as she feels like a perfect balance of traditional western elements on a modern boot.
What are the key design features of Western footwear?
There are so many fun things to play with when designing western boots – the traditional undercut Cuban heel, feature rands – being double stitched or offset, we considered all of these elements when designing and changed them up across the styles to give variation and interest, The feature stitching on the toe and barrell leg was really fun to play around with and design to add a playful individual feature to what could’ve been a plain boot.
Are there any key styling considerations or ways to wear for Western?
The Scandi influencers really pushed this trend to the forefront and made Western styling look so effortless so I look to them for styling inspiration, they make such fun fashion choices with colours and unexpected pairings – Copenhagen Fashion Week was a wealth of styling inspo for me to look to when figuring out how to style my western boots. I love subverting feminine dressing with an unexpected edge, combining cowboy boots with a neutral silk slip dress and a biker jacket balancing out tough and femme in such a cool way.
What inspired your Western designs this season?
Fashion week street style is always a big source of inspiration for us, we saw of a huge revival of vintage cowboy boots in Copenhagen and we just had to put our Mi Piaci twist on it.
Do you have a favourite Western style? Why?
My favourite Western style is Buck! I’m a big fan of a barrel leg fit and the dessert snake makes her the perfect statement to a monochromatic look.
What are the key design features of Western footwear?
For me, it’s all about that sharp pointed toe and a bold heel.
Are there any key styling considerations or ways to wear for Western?
Western boots are so versatile, you can wear them all year round! Pair with wide-leg pants for just a peak of western, tuck your jeans into barrel legs boots for an effortless lady Di look or add some edge to your favourite summer dress.
What inspired your Western designs this season?
Ganni always has a fun twist on the Western boot. Their stitching detail and colours of the season are always eye-catching.
Do you have a favourite Western style? Why?
Bento- love the extended rand, more of a simplified western lady.
What are the key design features of Western footwear?
It's all about the heel, rand and stitch detailing.
Are there any key styling considerations or ways to wear for Western?
Show off the long boots with a mini, or a wide-leg pant to see the stitch detail on the toe.
