I’m one of those New Yorkers who’s utterly obsessed with living in New York. There are so many things I love about the city. I could spend hours listing all of the little things about New York that have made me fall in love with it, so yeah, it’s safe to say I’m what you might call a city girl. The city and I just go together, but for a self-proclaimed city girl, I have a surprisingly strong love for the Western aesthetic. I own way too many pairs of cowgirl boots for a New Yorker. If there’s ever an opportunity for me to put on a cowgirl hat, I take it. I love Western belts and cowhide everything and am a huge Kacey Musgraves fan. So when the cowboy-boot/flip-flop company Alvies reached out to me and offered to take me to Austin, Texas, for a new pair of boots to add to my collection and to show me a city I have never been to before, I jumped at the opportunity.
As I mentioned before, I’m one of those New Yorkers who love New York, so I can admit that I can be a tough critic when it comes to visiting other cities. But Austin actually blew me away. I’m not sure if it was all of the opportunities to wear denim-on-denim outfits, eat as much barbecue and Tex-Mex as I wanted (which was a lot), or that I got to wear cowboy boots with every outfit, but I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the city. My trip not only let me live my best faux-cowgirl life, but it also reignited my love for Western style and how I need to get back to adding elements of it to my wardrobe. On my trip, I wanted to really embrace the Texan vibe—lots of denim-on-denim outfits, corsets, Western boots, star motifs, minidresses, and even a cowgirl hat at one point.
My shopping habits have totally been influenced by my trip to visit Alvies, and now that I have the sickest pair of cowboy boots ever from the brand, my mind is going wild with ideas on how to style them now that I’m back in the city. I found 31 Western-chic items that I’m so excited about.
Keep scrolling to see which items made the cut and even shop some of the items that I brought with me on the trip.