By Julie Carter
The West and those that live in it will often lean toward trends of fashion dictated by the folks in the city. Practical is not always an issue for those garbed for the public somewhere beyond the barbwire boundaries of the ranch.
For a couple of years now western fashion has taken on a retro look of shiny satin, contrasting colored piping, embroidered flowers, fringed everything and the newly coined phrase of “bling bling.”
The bling is offered up in the flash and shine of embedded rhinestones covering everything you can imagine in the accessory category. From the assortment of western wear catalogs to the buckle babe seen walking around the rodeo grounds, bling is definitely “in.”
The brilliant luminescence radiates from hoop earrings the size of dinner plates, horseshoe shaped medallions hung from a rope around the neck and western belts that have more rhinestone candle power than even Las Vegas would try to claim. There is no color of bling you can’t find to match your wardrobe, including those hot pink, cerulean blue or lime green “fat baby” boots.
Rest assured in case you weren’t, that western wear hasn’t missed the current trend of low riding jeans and clingy high riding shirts for the chickadees. The real problem with that is bottom line (pun intended) the space in between and how it looks fluffing over those bling bling belts in rolls of “weight issues.” It is a fact of the world that not everyone - no matter the age - is cut out for every fashion trend that comes down the pike.
Bling is also available on an assortment of accessories for the horse including critical gear such as breast collars and bridles. I think it’s a natural migration from the other people trends that ended up on their horses.
Years ago it was “speed beads”—a braided beaded necklace for the performance horse to wear either as a decoration or the promise of a faster time in the speed events. It was my experience the “speed” thing was false advertising.
A real deal ranch wife friend of mine recently took part in what she called “an old hide ride” which was a trail ride for women who were on approach to those fabled golden years. She said she was the only one on the trip that didn’t have a pair of rhinestone rimmed sunglasses and the little snug skull hugging caps with some sort of bling bling rhinestone emblem on it.
She was nearly an outcast. The bling has spanned the age gap in most circles and if you can’t wear it well on the waist at least in good fashion conscience you are to wear it on your head. There is absolutely no reason any longer to not “shine shine shine” no matter where you are.
Perhaps though, this too shall pass to only show up again in 30 years. I recently did a double take when I saw the pointed- toe wing-tipped boots of late 60’s-early 70’s fame back on the “western” fashion forefront.
Back then it was the hippies vs. the cowboys. Now it is hard to tell us apart.
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