While wrangling bulls and jumping horses may fill the schedule of most National Western Stock Show visitors, the 16-day-long event wouldn’t be the same without the plethora of Western-based clothing lining the Hall of Education.

The National Western grounds are filled to the 10-gallon brim with clothing vendors — stretching from Texas to Australia — selling garb and leather that have been instilled in our culture since those rootin’ and tootin’ brought them to popularity in the mid-1800s. 

“It’s just timeless,” Robin Schwartz said of her duster coat and custom-made rodeo shirt on Saturday afternoon. Her and her husband, Charles, have been coming to the stock show from Colorado Springs for three years. They’ve been dressing like cowboys and cowgirls forever.

“There’s no fads. There’s no high rise, low rise. It stays consistent,” she said. “It’s classic.”

And those enthusiasts, with their leather and furs, are part of the reason that the National Western Stock Show has been such a visual and entertaining experience for 118 years.

The style isn’t changing, though it may add new converts.

Glitters and golds

Robin Lindquist opened Rocky Mountain Leathers in Broomfield in 1984. Since, she has handpicked Western clothing from tradeshows and sold the collections at events like the National Western.

Lindquist says Western fashion isn’t going anywhere. It’s timeless because “fringe never goes out of style. Crystals and glitter never go out of style,” she joked.

The crystal-laden clothes at the Rockin P Ranch booth — owned by Patty Lewis and based out of Ouray — prove that. 

When asked about the cliché of cowgirls and jewels, Lewis didn’t hesitate. “It’s absolutely true,” she said, pointing to a black fur jacket with studded crystals down the front. “This is how cowgirls keep warm.”

Lewis started the store around 42 years ago. She’s been bringing women’s Western wear to the stock show for 30 years. 

“The cowgirls want to look good. They’ll always want to look good,” she added. “The younger girls love the bling. The more bling the better. For my age, we’re more classic – like pearls.”

With long-term fashion staples like these boutiques still making their way around the country, the cowboy fashion isn’t dwindling. In fact, it may be rising, according to Sky Nichols of We’re Australia Shows Inc., a cowboy hat seller from Texas that creates unique leather designs and imports Australian hats. 

“During the pandemic with the Yellowstone show being so popular, I think hats have made a comeback,” she said. “Everyone wants a cowboy hat now. I think it’s here to stay for a while.”

Some new twists

Though the Western style may be maintaining its 200-year run in popularity, there have been some new tweaks and trends in the past few years.

Lewis notes that trends reoccur.

“Bell bottoms were in when I was young. Now they’re back. A lot of bling is back, too,” she said. “It’s changed because we all change.”

She added that prices and the desire for quality have increased, too, noting that her leather Louis Vuitton bags are the most popular items recently. “When I was young, I didn’t have $3,700 for a purse,” she said. “They do now.”

Some styles are forever, like cowboy boots, but they do have small twists, according to Jackie Lazor of Steamboat Ranchwear.

“You’re always going to have cowboy boots, but you see different shapes become popular,” she said. “It went from pointy toes to round toes. Now it’s a square toe. It’s just a twist that happens, but it’s still the same cowboy boot.”

Cowboy hats don’t change much, either, though flatter brims have started to peak as fashionable, Nichols said. It’s the classic nature that keeps them famous, though.

“There’s a lot of classic styles, but there’s definitely been changes, as well,” Lindquist said. “There’s been a lot more coats and blazers this year.”

Some of that might have to do with the cold.

Keeping warm and cool

Saturday saw Denver temperatures drop into the negatives, according to the National Weather Service in Boulder.

Despite winds chilling the air to nearly minus-20 degrees, the stock show was booming with attendees. Many of them wearing warm Western gear.

“It’s all about layers,” Ryan Murphy of Bison Creek Interiors said. He was wearing full cowboy garments, something he says he wears every day.

“There’s nothing better than fur, man,” Jim Hooks from the Colorado Trappers and Predator Hunters Association said. 

The association started at the stock show by presenting furs and skulls for educational purposes. So many people tried to buy the goods — like biologists and teachers — that they began sales. The booth is now expansive with hundreds of different furs. 

Hooks points a lot of that toward the style and warmth of the furs.

“People wear furs, sure, but the average, working person wears wool,” Lazor said. 

“Something that’s come back around is heavy wool sweaters. – They always used to have patterned sweaters back in the Fifties, but now it’s in style. Aztec print, too. Anything that has a bit of wool content to it, especially in Colorado.”

The polar vortex wasn’t about to stop Charles and Robin Schwartz from attending the show. 

“We just needed enough warmth to run to and from the car,” Charles joked. 

And it’s that true, Western dedication that makes Nichols love Denver’s stock show in comparison to some other Western events.

“Here, everyone has a bit of manure on their boots,” Nichols said. “They’re either here to buy a cow, sell a cow, or watch a cow get roped.”