“Country or hillbilly music and overalls are part of a modern vernacular; the music and garments evoke nostalgia for a ‘simpler’ past, while being the products of commercial enterprise and industrial modernity.”

Westernwear is having a moment that’s bringing attention to the fashion of country artists past and present. It’s not the first time that cowboy clothes have appeared far afield of their origins, and musicians are now, as ever, western style’s most visible ambassadors. Country music fashion is an embodiment of the traditions and ruptures within the genre across time, and clothes, as cultural artifacts, can be understood as a record of the industry and artists that made it. Presently, the multicolored rhinestone-encrusted suits made famous at midcentury by rodeo tailors like Nathan Turk, Nudie, Rodeo Ben, and Manuel Cuevas are seeing a resurgence in popularity, thanks to artists like Orville Peck, Post Malone, and Nikki Lane, while Beyoncé, Chappell Roan, and Leon Bridges reinterpret western style with differing degrees of glamour and camp.