I love how the fashion world can take pieces that were once considered tacky and reinterpret them into something that I consider to be mainstream at this point. For many decades, the western shirt was considered the uniform of cowboys on and off the screen, but now dudes of our generation have adopted this shirt into their closets as a staple.
The shirt itself is noted to have four distinguishing trademarks…a slim fit through the torso, two chest flap pockets, snap buttons, and a pointed yoke around the shoulder and chest.
- The reason behind the slim fit is so you wouldn’t get caught or snagged on anything while riding the open range. For us, it’s a shirt that’s not boxy and fits the way a shirt is supposed to fit.
- Chest flap pockets fasten to hold any goodies you may have acquired along the way. Nowadays I wouldn’t recommend putting too much of anything in there though, you don’t want any man boob action happening.
- Snap buttons, unlike your traditional sewn buttons, have a break away function to let loose if the shirt were to get caught on something and they generally hold up better.
- The pointed yoke design broadens a man’s shoulders and adds a sense of modern machismo to the shirt.
For an updated cowboy look appropriate in any cityscape, try wearing the western shirt with some selvedge denim on top in the form of a jacket or below as bottoms. It would look equally great, if not better, with a casual sport-coat or suit. The only thing to keep in mind is to have all parts of the outfit looking appropriate together. If your shirt is more casual, you wouldn’t want to wear it with your formal three-piece suit. In my modern rendition of the western shirt, I’ve paired it with a wool cargo riding pant by Ovadia & Sons and laceless blucher shoes by All Saints. Passing on the shoe laces and belt…I’m going for more of a minimalist look, because sometimes less is actually just enough.
Shirt: Banana Republic
Pants: Ovadia & Sons
Shoes: All Saints
Sunglasses: Ray Ban
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Location: Peoria/ IL
Photography: Max Sawa
