Catching cowboy fever was not on my fashion radar, but sometimes we become that which we resist. (I just found a summer cowboy hat in Boston, ordered my first pair of cowboy boots, and have big plans for cowboy/leather chic this fall.) It turns out that Western wear has some cheeky and brilliant undertones, as exemplified and explained by Cowboy Ed, owner and proprietor of London’s impressive Western clothing store Hey Cowboy!
Challenging and demolishing traditional gender boundaries, and turning the typical notions of Western wear on their head while embracing the intrinsically campy accoutrements like sequins, rhinestones, embroidery, and fringe, true Western wear has the spirit of defiance in its hidden history. Ed found his first Western hat while living in California many years ago, falling in love with the style and feeling at home whenever he found himself in said hat and cowboy boots. It was a love affair that led to a market stall of Western wear in 2021, and the Hey Cowboy! brick and mortar store which opened in London in 2023. If/when I finally make it back across the pond to visit London again, this place will be one of my first stops. Thanks to his eye for a classic cowboy look, coupled with a progressively-modern take on acceptance and harmony, Ed earns his first Dazzler of the Day crowning.
Our values are grounded in the West. There’s no denying that the Old West was the frontier of an aggressively expanding nation that mercilessly expropriated lands from native inhabitants. It was often lawless and violent. But it was also a place of accommodations, co-existence and freedoms. Black folk headed west to escape stricter racial hierarchies found elsewhere. Cowboys shared blankets and formed lifetime bonds. Many trans folk managed to live their gender identities as they pleased. Experiments with new ways of living from religious conservatives to labour movements to communes flourished in the west. Cowfolk always came in all genders, colours, sexualities and ways of thinking.
Cowboys are a masculine archetype. We’re okay with that, because we think masculinity is where much of the work needs to be done. Hey Cowboy! transmits an image of positive masculinity through the messages we put into the world and the pieces we design. A real cowboy treats all folks as equals. He stands against injustice, never goes back on his word and helps those who need it most. He speaks his mind, but doesn’t need to brag or boast. He mistrusts authority and has little time for status. He respects women. And of course, he always gets his man. Those are our values.
