After my discharge from the Marines in the early 70’s I decided to drive to Colorado for a vacation. After driving over fourteen hours, I stopped in Walsenburg, Colorado for the night. My love of all things Western just gripped me here.
My one night turned into a long weekend. There was a hotel with old barn wood on the walls, and a diner with a jukebox playing, “Kiss An Angel Good Mornin’” by Charley Pride. There were countless cowboys there for a rodeo. After reaching Aspen, I bought my first pair of cowboy boots which I wore for a few decades.
I traveled to Santa Fe, New Mexico recently for a photojournalist class, with a theme of Western Cowboy Boots. Did you know over fifty companies in the United States of America create western boots with estimated annual sales approaching two billion dollars?
The leather boot stepped out in the 13th century during the time of Genghis Khan and has never stopped growing in popularity. Society and borders have transformed via exploration, conflict, technical advances and resolution for centuries. Most of the people during these evolutions wore boots.
My first day on the street I tried to photograph people in cowboy boots. To my astonishment, Santa Fe, while western wear is well represented in the town square, it is not as common on the street. At the weekly street music show most looked like Woodstock entrants having the time of their life.
Refreshing and surprising. There are always elements of travel that teach you new revelations and not always basics of history.
I wore wingtip shoes to work for over thirty years, thinking it was a prime element of the business uniform. However, times have changed, now the world is more casual. Traveling the globe can broaden a person’s views of fashion. For example, I saw a surprising sight in Japan; every businessperson wore a white shirt, necktie, black suit, and lace-up shoes. It reminded me of a time in America, but now long gone.
In both Patagonia, Chile, and on the large Estancias in Argentina, everyone wore riding boots. In Africa, most villages were barefooted or wore sandals. India was also primarily sandals.
One night, luck was in my corner; a friend had boots on and told me he had fit issues. He now buys his custom shoes in Santa Fe. The next day, I spoke with Wendy Henry, owner, and founder of the Back at the Ranch store in Santa Fe. She was in the fashion business in New York before relocating to New Mexico and loved cowboy boots. Her goal was to build a boot that was not only comfortable but stylish.
Most boot manufacturing occurs in El Paso, Texas, so she bought a boot company there. Wendy has a guideline, be adventurous and be sure you get the perfect fit. Boots are rich in history, give you a better sense of style, draw attention, show confidence, and offer safer walking stability.
My article on Cappadocia Turkey is coming soon!
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Wendy Lane Henry vividly remembers the first pair of cowboy boots she ever bought.
She was a teenager walking through a Neiman Marcus department store in Miami when she spotted a pair of burgundy-colored alligator skin boots.
Wendy Lane Henry vividly remembers the first pair of cowboy boots she ever bought.
She was a teenager walking through a Neiman Marcus department store in Miami when she spotted a pair of burgundy-colored alligator skin boots.
“They were so different,” said Henry, standing inside her store, Back at the Ranch, in Santa Fe, surrounded by hundreds of handmade cowboy boots she designed.
“My parents didn’t dress me up like a cowgirl,” Henry said. “But I just had to have them.”
Half a century later, cowboy boots have become what Henry is known for. From her cozy adobe shop on Marcy Street, Henry has worked to evolve the classic American footwear, combining traditional Western aesthetics with modern, high-end, fashion-forward sensibilities and designs.
“We are a luxury brand, the Rolls-Royce of cowboy boots,” Henry said. “We’re not ‘yeehaw.’ We brought our cowboy boots into the fashion world.”
Fashion has long been a passion for Henry. Her mother, Meta Lane, was her first inspiration — an “elegant dresser” with “excellent taste,” Henry said.
“She would often wear a pair of jeans with a white blouse and a sweater over her shoulder. Like a Ralph Lauren model,” she said.
Henry got her first job in fashion at age 15 when she worked at a women’s clothing store a few blocks from her childhood home in Hollywood, Fla.
“I knew I had a passion for clothes as a very young teenager,” Henry said.
In 1972, she opened an exercise clothing store in Miami and later a women’s clothing store on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
In 1989, after nearly 10 years in New York, Henry visited Santa Fe for the first time. She fell in love. Six months later, she sold her apartment and closed her clothing store in New York.
“I knew I was finished with New York, and I always wanted to live out West,” Henry said. “The wide-open spaces, the clear blue sky, no traffic. I came out here, and that was it.”
In 1990, she opened the original 400-square-foot Back to the Ranch, selling vintage Western clothing and cowboy boots, before moving to the Marcy Street location 10 years later.
The early years were tough.
“It was Ann and me in our little store on Don Gaspar,” Henry said of her longtime friend, leather expert and colleague Ann Germano, with whom she has worked for
25 years.
“We never knew how we were going to pay our rent,” Henry said.
“It was hand to mouth,” Germano added.
Henry had one form of insurance: a custom-made sterling silver belt buckle.
“I always thought that if I couldn’t pay my rent, that I would be able to sell this,” she said, pointing to the unique belt buckle with a 14-carat gold Texas longhorn engraved on the front. “Luckily, I never had to.”
Locals chipped in to keep the store afloat. Scott Seligman, a banker and a friend, noticed the store had almost no inventory and gave Henry a loan.
The late Forrest Fenn, a Santa Fe art dealer and author famed for launching a multistate treasure hunt, provided a piece of advice that Henry would take to heart.
“He said to stop selling inexpensive boots. Sell the good stuff,” said Henry, whose boots now start at $1,000 a pair.
The shop’s fortunes truly began to change when Henry bought a boot store in California, obtaining a large inventory.
In cowboy boots, Henry, as she had that first time in Miami, saw something timeless and classic.
“Cowboy boots are quintessential American fashion that never goes out of style,” Henry said.
However, she noticed cowboy boots were often uncomfortable, and their designs were stuck in the 1950s.
“I brought my fashion background into the cowboy boot business because I saw that there were so many things missing, and the men who manufactured it didn’t want to do what I wanted to do,” she said. “It was male-dominated. There were no colors. The boots didn’t fit right.”
In 2003, Henry opened a factory in El Paso to make handcrafted boots in various styles, designs and colors of her choice.
“We saw something was missing and decided to do it better,” Henry said.
The factory in El Paso now employs a family of second- and third-generation bootmakers. “It’s a dying art,” Germano said of the handmade bootmaking tradition that stretches back to the 1800s.
The craftsmen work with a dizzying variety of materials sourced worldwide: crocodile skins, ostrich feathers and exotic hides, such as waterproof hippo, that are dyed in rich colors. “The perfect red,” Henry said.
On average, a pair of boots, from start to finish, takes around two weeks to make. “They are so labor-intensive,” Henry said.
Today, customers can choose from hundreds of designs at the store. Some boots are hand-carved. Others, like one with an intricate Day of the Dead scene, are sewn. “We come up with something new almost every day,” Henry said.
Buyers can also order custom designs and color schemes on their boots. A popular trend is ordering boots with inlaid images of their favorite pet. “People love their dogs,” Henry said.
The store’s growing reputation has drawn clientele from around the world, with dozens of celebrity patrons including Lyle Lovett, Jane Fonda, former Gov. Bill Richardson and rapper Post Malone.
“We’ve done boots for country and western singers, politicians, and Hollywood and Bollywood stars,” Henry said.
Back to the Ranch recently sold a $9,000 pair of cowboy boots, the most expensive sale in the store’s history.
The boots, Henry said, provide an instant swagger: “It gives you an attitude, big time.”
For Henry, the joy of the job comes from the range of people she gets to meet at the store.
“I’m 71, and I have no plans on retiring, selling or closing the store because we meet the most interesting people from all over the world,” she said.
“Every day I get letters from people that have come to the store,” said Henry, picking up a thank-you card from a man named Tom before reading it aloud.
“Santa Fe [has] some of the nicest people. I will never forget your kindness,” the man wrote.
“That almost means more than someone buying a boot,” Henry said. “That’s why I can’t retire.”
When Back at the Ranch opened in 1990, the Western boots industry desperately
needed fashion-forward ideas about color and material to complement its renowned craftsmanship. Owner Wendy Henry set a new standard in the Western footwear market by implementing cutting-edge styles that would make any rodeo queen jump for joy. Back at the Ranch has endless combinations of acid-washed metallic cowhide, alligator and ostrich leathers, intricate tooling and floral inlays.
Cowboy boots can be worn with everything from jeans to cocktail dresses. Wendy believes that every woman should have a mule, a zippered boot, an all-weather boot and a one all-time favorite pair that you just love. And you absolutely must have a black exotic skin in your collection. A black alligator boot is like having that perfect little black dress.
Ankle Zipper Boots complement pants, dresses, leggings and skirts.
Most importantly, wear boots and enjoy them. That is what they are meant for.
Paraphrased from Phoenix Home and Garden Magazine
]]>The Back at the Ranch Polo Team won the USPA Constitution Cup at New Mexico Polo Club
Dawn Jones
Joel Acosta
The Back at the Ranch Team, Joel Acosta, Jonathan Gracida, Tony Yahyai, and Dawn Jones
]]>.....And that high heel? When it emerged, in the late 19th century, the tiny foot was the fashionable ideal for both sexes. “Cowboys were dandies,” said Wendy Lane Henry of Back at the Ranch, a cowboy-boot brand that specializes in exotic skins. “When they came into town, they dressed up. The underslung high heel made the foot look smaller and left a smaller footprint.”
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FEW SHOES ARE beloved by the professionally fashionable and Republican politicians. The cowboy boot, however, sits comfortably in both worlds: If you were to make a Venn diagram of the wardrobes of Kate Moss and Ted Cruz, this is where they would intersect. Often in vogue but never really in vogue, the cowboy boot is a fashion paradox. This season, it’s having one of its intermittent moments in the spotlight.
Our tale picks up last fall, when designers on both sides of the Atlantic evinced a fascination with Americana, particularly of the Western variety. Because accessories are usually the easiest way—i.e. the cheapest way, relatively speaking—to buy into a trend, this piqued an interest in cowboy boots. Nurtured by photos of influencers like Kendall Jenner and the success of the HBO series “Westworld,” this fascination is now hitting critical mass, with offerings from Calvin Klein, Givenchy, Golden Goose Deluxe Brand and, of course, traditional makers like Justin Boots and Frye (whose marketing slogan for the season is “The Original, The Authentic, The Only”).
The cowboy boot is defined by a high, unlaced shaft, often intricately stitched; a smooth leather sole; and a high Cuban heel (the roper boot, a 20th-century innovation, has a lower shaft and heel and was developed for competitive calf roping, which requires riders to dismount quickly). Cowboy-boot lore holds that all these elements function practically: An unlaced shaft, said Rodney Ammons, a product developer at Justin, ensured that if a rider fell off his horse, “his body weight would pull his foot out of the boot.” The stitching stiffened the shaft, while the smooth sole and high heel let the foot slide easily into the stirrup and remain there.
But given the boot’s highly decorative nature, it seems unlikely that its design is strictly utilitarian. I suspect this just-the-facts-ma’am narrative developed because American men are traditionally loathe to admit they’re interested in style and cowboy boots were traditionally masculine. But if, for example, the stitching on the shaft were purely functional, it could run straight up and down. Instead, it adopts baroque patterns borrowed from the vaquero tradition. And that high heel? When it emerged, in the late 19th century, the tiny foot was the fashionable ideal for both sexes. “Cowboys were dandies,” said Wendy Lane Henry of Back at the Ranch, a cowboy-boot brand that specializes in exotic skins. “When they came into town, they dressed up. The underslung high heel made the foot look smaller and left a smaller footprint.”Cowboy boots made the segue to fashion via the Hollywood Western, which introduced them to swaths of the cinema-going public. Thanks to screen cowboys like Tom Mix, the genre’s definitive star in the early 20th century, who dressed the part with panache, boots became more colorful and exaggerated—and the very pointed toe, which lacks any practical purpose whatsoever, emerged. In the 1930s, when dude ranches were fashionable, vacationing Easterners bought cowboy regalia such as jeans and boots and took it back home.
‘The cowboy boot is a surprisingly sexy shoe that encourages a strut.’
But the cowboy boot’s biggest fashion moment came in the early 1980s, when Ralph Lauren’s vision of the American West was ascendant and Mr. Lauren, then in his 40s, was viewed as a fresh, exciting talent. His success coincided with a wider cultural fascination with cowboys—Kenny Rogers was a music star, “Urban Cowboy” was a hit film, and President Ronald Reagan, who had appeared in Westerns such as “Cattle Queen of Montana,” wore cowboy boots for photo ops.
Since then, the cowboy boot has periodically emerged as a fashion statement (remember Madonna’s “Don’t Tell Me” video in 2000?) while becoming a staple for a surprising number and variety of designers. French clothing brand A.P.C. used the boots to signal nonchalant cool in the early 2000s, a tactic subsequently adopted by Isabel Marant and former Saint Laurent creative director Hedi Slimane, who designed a clean, simple cowboy boot for the brand for several seasons. LD Tuttle designer Tiffany Tuttle, a former ballerina , gives her cowboy boots a dark Goth spin, while Ann Mashburn goes for a mod neatness.
Ms. Mashburn, a retailer and designer based in Atlanta, was adamant about stocking a cowboy boot when she opened her first store in 2010. “It’s a big part of my personal style,” she said. “I was a fashion editor, so I needed practical clothes. But I also had this romantic view of fashion, of who am I going to be today?”
When pressed, cowboy boot wearers tend to talk about practicality—that word again. Don’t be fooled; as Ms. Mashburn’s comment suggests, there’s more going on here. Lots of shoes are practical, but only this one was worn by the cowboy: an American folk hero, a knight-errant figure with world-wide appeal. To walk in his boots is to take on some of his maverick glamour and disdain for authority. The cowboy boot is also a surprisingly sexy shoe that encourages a strut. As James Leo Herlihy, author of “Midnight Cowboy,” wrote, they make the wearer feel “strong…exultant.”
It makes you wonder why they’re ever out of style, doesn’t it?
While it still may be the season for sandals, there's no time like the present to stock up on what will soon be fall's most popular trend: cowboy boots. Weather you’re a maximalist who is willing to go the full-nine-yards like Karlie Kloss or a minimalist who prefers a subtle nod to the season’s trends, there is a shoe out there for you. As drops from pre-fall collections become available, the western boot is a great way to transition a summer wardrobe into cooler temperatures. Coach 1941, Fendi and Givenchy are just a few designers that take a literal approach with exotic skins and pops of color. We’ve also included boot-makers with a history for perfecting the handmade cowboy boot. Back at the Ranch and Space Cowboy are able to customize a pair to your desire. So, while you prepare your Fourth of July barbeque, take a look at the latest shoes inspired by classic American style.
Handmade in Sante Fe, Back at the Ranch boots offer intricate styles along with the option for customization. Back at the Ranch, cowboy boots with decorative butterfly inlay, $1,798, backattheranch.com.
New Mexico Homes, a resource for Santa Fe, NM Real Estate, recently featured us in an article. Read it here: Back at the Ranch Shows These Boots are Made for Walkin', Fashion, and Just About Anything.
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