Its been in progress for a few years but the resurgence of Western Wear, recently nicknamed Cowboy Core, is officially here. The style was adopted by various pop stars recently but with Texas born icon, Beyoncé, announcing her upcoming country album with two surprise songs, we’re officially back in the Wild West baby.

Although its not the trends first rodeo, this time around its making big splashes in retail. Last year, Business of Fashion reported that, “retailers in the US and UK introduced 240 per cent more new styles of cowboy boots and denim shirts than they did in the same period last year.” Also in 2023, Depop saw a 15% surge in users searching for ‘Western’ items.

The trending style has seen many returns since 2018 due the increase of western culture represented in TV and cinema, for example Yellowstone, The Harder They Fall, Concrete Cowboy and even making a cameo in Barbie and becoming one of the movies most memorable costumes. Music and pop culture may have had the larger push with artists using the style to shape their eras, for example Worcestershire born Harry Styles embraced the look for his 2021 Love on Tour run, fans showed up in pink cowboy hats and more feather boas than you could imagine. Megan Thee Stallion and her leather chaps took the world for a ride when she debuted in the Hot 100 for the first time in 2018 with her sensual, Western style.

The BeyHive took dressing in silver for the Renaissance tour so seriously that it sparked a worldwide demand for silver clothes and boots. A google search analysis by Nasty Gal revealed that online interest in ‘metallic cowboy boots’ skyrocketed 488% after the first night of tour, as well as Google searches for ‘silver cowboy boots‘ which have also risen 300% worldwide, and searches for ‘disco cowboy hat’, which are up 525% too, inspired by Beyoncé’s look from the Renaissance tour poster.

Now that Beyoncé has made clear the genre of her upcoming album, ACT II of her three act project, its safe to say it will have a similar effect on the current state of trending fashion. As her transition has shown already, we can expect to see more intentional, western styling, bigger hair, more leather and way more denim.

Beyoncé embracing her country roots for a project isnt unprecedented, in fact its more suiting for her than anyone else adopting the trend. Her surprise 2 song drop during the superbowl brought to light various other black women making country music. Many of them saw their streaming numbers soar. Black cowboy culture runs deep with one in four Texas cowboys being black, its a mystery as to why they’ve been erased from history (not). I predict this rodeo resurgence will bring to light their stories, accomplishments and hardcomings.

Its not just country fashion that has us all hooked, country music is seeing its biggest streaming boom and has become the fastest growing genre of music in GB.

If you’re looking to start incorporating the rodeo look into your wardrobe, youll be looking for pieces of original denim – shirts, jeans, jackets, as well as fringe detailing, bolo ties and western buckle belts. These are ways to subtly join in on the trend without popping a bedazzled cowboy hat over your 80s blowout. Leather and lace up will be trending too, a good way to integrate it into your night out look.

A subtrend of the western wear wave has been nicknamed “Coastal Cowgirl”. A more versatile, soft, femme way to divulge in the trend. It features lots of linen, lace, satin and messy effortless hair paired with a denim element, cowboy hat or boots. Think Ralph Lauren’s personal style if he lived on the coast and was a 23 year old woman.

If you’ve ever wanted to dip your toes in Western Wear, now would be the time! get creative and incorporate it into your everyday style to elevate outfits.