Stampede 2017

I am sitting here working on this post listening to Johnny Cash and wanting oh so bad to be at the Stampede grounds right now. No offence, I just love the Calgary Stampede and you know that already! Every year like clock work, it is the one thing I will always make time for. It takes my mind to my dad, who was probably the most western polish guy you’d ever see. With his love of Clint Eastwood and John Wayne I grew up listening to country music in our car, years before we came to Canada. He ALWAYS dressed up for pancake breakfast and was generally the first in line for anything that had to do with cowboys (the guys NOT the bar). I’ve grown to really appreciate and love these 10 days we get to let loose, dress up and feel like in the grand scheme of things we also have a lot to offer in terms of culture. I know that a lot of you probably don’t consider western culture as culture, but yet it is. You can’t deny that Nashville made quite a name for itself thanks to it’s Country music, cowboys and general southern hospitality. Or Austin, that totally embraces their cowboys when anyone from out of town rolls around, even California, the dessert sun, bohemian fashion and millinaries, churning out western like it’s Stampede every day of the year, case in point the location of this very shoot! A western town in the middle of the desert, like a movie set just waiting for an old fashioned Mexican stand off. Speaking of Mexico, another example of incredible cowboy culture, and of course the granddaddy of them all, Spain, matadors and cattle ranchers have been providing inspiration for movies and fashion for as long as Vogue can remember. It looks so good and I don’t see why it can’t be us, heck! IT IS US! AND what I’ve been seeing already this year is that the city is finally taking note, people are paying more attention, embracing Western as a trend and, for 10 days, a way of life, because let’s face it, for a white collar city like Calgary, 10 days is just not long enough 😉

I’ll be posting more of my western looks this week, despite swollen feet and sweaty back (because hello 33 DEGREES!!!) because I wouldn’t miss it for anything! HAPPY STAMPEDING!

wearing: Ever New overalls, Zara top, Brixton Hat, Alberta Boot Company boots, Coach bag, Brave leather accessories, Hermes bandana