See where the influence of Western style started and manifested in the Western Wares exhibit.
The West isn’t just a geographic place; it’s a culture and a lifestyle that has inspired generations of artists and creators. The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum’s new exhibit, Western Wares, showcases this work and how “designs with roots on the range” weaved their way through fashion, pop culture, the automotive industry, and more. Starting Feb. 11 and running through May 1, the work of Loy Bowlin, Nudie Cohn, and Dolores Gonzales, among others, will shed light on the influence and history of our Western style.
The collection was carefully curated by Nathan Jones and Samantha Schafer, who were excited to share an exhibit diverse in creators and products, including not only clothes, but also photographs, ceramics, textiles, home goods, furniture, and even a set of dentures. “We wanted to bring in everyday wares and make sure that we were able to approach a diversity of experiences with Western design,” Jones says.
About half of the exhibit is photography, pulled from the museum’s robust archival holdings. The photos feature old advertisements, portraits of people and families wearing Western clothing, and real people wearing real, Western-style clothing in their everyday lives. “It’s really fun to see these different rodeo stars or even just visitors at the rodeo in their Western wear,” Schafer says. “It reminds me of modern-day street fashion photography, so you have these guys playing cards behind the bleachers in between events at the rodeo or kids whose parents are competing, so they’re hanging out in the back on the trailer, just this kind of more streetwear approach of regular people wearing these things in their lives.”
The automotive industry and how the West influenced it is an unexpected piece in the exhibit. Why did Ford have vehicles named Mustang and Bronco? “Automotively, when you look at American car brands, they mostly have Western names, and though they don't all lean into Western designs, there’s still a borrowing of that mystique for the auto industry, Jones explains.
Jones’ favorite piece in the exhibit is Loy Bowlin’s dentures. Bowlin is an outsider artist from Mississippi who took Glen Campbell’s song, Rhinestone Cowboy, to heart. He adorned his designs, clothes, and even his home with sequins, rhinestones, and more. “He was an older man and had dentures, so he had his dentist drill holes in his dentures, so he could apply rhinestones to them,” Jones explains. “It really just speaks of the wider relevance outside of just the geographic west for Western material, Western design, and how people use it to really identify their own lifestyle and identify themselves so strongly with it. I really love that story, and [Bowlin] in particular... [is] just a pure expression of what it means to be immersed in Western design [and] fashion.”
Schafer’s favorite items are the patio dresses by Dolores Gonzales. She loves not only the style, but also how they highlight that Western wear isn’t just European or Euro-centric. “It’s also majorly influenced and created by Hispanic and Indigenous influences, and patio dresses are like the perfect melting pot of that, like European, Hispanic, and Indigenous design all coming together into a single object,” Schafer explains.
After finalizing the exhibit, both curators were happy to have learned how many of the featured artists and artisans were immigrants. “I don’t think I realized how many of the makers… who get involved in Western design are immigrants or come from other cultures,” Jones says. Many of these designers, creators, and tailors, like Nathan Turk, Nudie Cohn, Bernard “Rodeo Ben” Lichtenstein, and Dolores Gonzales, weren’t born in the West.
They were born in places around the world but are connected in the Western world through their work. “[Couturier Manuel Cuevas] ‘Manuel’ studied under Nudie and then bought machines from Turk when he went out of business, and the same embroidery team worked with Nudie and then with Manuel,” Schafer explains. “It’s like there’s a collective pool, and it doesn’t matter what label they’re under, but the same person will probably have worked on items for different brands. It’s all very interconnected when you start digging.” Their creativity and work laid the groundwork for today’s Western style, cementing its place in mainstream fashion today.
Visitors to the Western Wares exhibit can learn about the roots of these beautiful designs, as well as the Western influence across multiple creative realms. The inspiring exhibit is open through May 1 at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
To learn more about this exhibit, visit the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum website.
Photography: (All Images) courtesy Carla C. Cain, via National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum
