Westernwear may not have peaked yet, but the fashion world is already riding the wave of a bohemian revival led by Chloe’s new creative director, Tsemena Kamali.
Luckily, going from ranch to Woodstock isn’t too far-fetched, given the extent to which the two trends overlap: They both share denim, embellished boots, big hats, oversized belts, and (of course) lots of leather and fringe.
Beyoncé made waves in two fringed leather looks for Balmain and Versace while promoting her “Cowboy Carter” character, while Kamali’s latest collection tapped into nostalgia for all things ’70s, making fringed leather chaps, jackets and hobo bags the new favorites.
Beyoncé wears Versace to the 2024 iHeartRadio Music Awards.
Michael Buckner of Billboard
Chloe, Fall 2024
Giovanni Giannoni/WWD
Stetson, which saw a surge in sales of its cowboy hats thanks to Beyoncé’s endorsement, is turning to its signature fringed suede jackets to ride the wave of the bohemian renaissance. Tyler Thoreson, vice president of marketing for the Western heritage brand, said sales have already “increased significantly” over the past year. “We continue to add new colors to meet demand, which shows that for many women, one color just isn’t enough,” he added.
Rosa Halpern, founder of Buy the Namesake, agrees. After country music star Rainie Wilson danced onstage at a Billboard event last month wearing a “Petit Prince” leather jacket with detachable fringe, customers became “especially enthusiastic” about embellishing their own customized versions, Halpern said.
Lainey Wilson wore “By the Namesake” to the Billboard Country Power Players event in May.
Billboard via Getty Images
While fringe and leather have certainly become fashionable elements, their origins were primarily functional: cowboys and pioneers adopted the adornments from Native American tribes, who cut tassels onto suede buckskin or deerskin to keep warm and camouflage themselves in the wild.
During the Jazz Age, flappers embraced fringe and associated it with free-spirited youth and counterculture, a trend that continued into the ’50s when motorcyclists used it to decorate their leather biker jackets. It was during this period that cowboys and their fringes finally entered the zeitgeist, jumping on the bandwagon of the rise of the Hollywood Western genre.
Musicians from Elvis to Stevie Nicks started incorporating fringe into their elaborate stage costumes in the late ’60s, and by the early ’70s it was commonplace among festival-going hippies with a penchant for the same cool design.
Leather or suede fringe made a comeback during the bohemian revival of the mid-2000s, this time with a high-fashion sheen known as “bohemian chic.” The “it” girls of the time proved the style was no gimmick by adding minimal touches of fringe to t-shirt and jeans outfits and day dresses.
Sienna Miller wore a fringe vest to her sister Savannah’s wedding in 2005.
PA Images via Getty Images
Linda Qui Chang, associate fashion director at Nordstrom, said their styles could tamp down cowboycore momentum while bringing “new energy” to the trend by “adding softness and movement to the structured denim and leather commonly associated with the Western.”
You can picture the Olsen twins or Sienna Miller (still the queen of bohemian chic) sporting today’s luxe fringed leather goods, from faux Stella McCartney Falabella bags to Michael Kors suede miniskirts.
Chang points out that the look can be made more Western or bohemian depending on taste and the occasion, adding: “Adding a few fringe pieces creates a variety of outfit solutions.”
Two trends, one stone.
