Cowboy boots have long symbolized the American West, but few Hollywood stars wore them with as much authenticity as Robert Redford.
The actor, director and Hollywood icon — who died on Tuesday at 89 — embodied the classic Americana style and made the Western-inspired footwear a signature element of his look. For him, it was all about comfort.
“I like things that make me comfortable and make me feel good. I don’t like voguey things. I don’t like putting this with that to look like that. I like potch-keying around with clothes,” Redford told WWD in 1970. “Like these shoes,” he added, propping a foot up on top of his desk, as Buffy Birrittella wrote. “See these shoes? I’ve had more people come up to me and say, ‘Hey, wow, great shoes there.’ They’re comfortable.”
You May Also Like
Related Stories
His love for the cowboy aesthetic was influenced by both the characters he played on the big screen and his life in Utah.
Redford moved to Utah in 1961, buying land in Provo Canyon. It was in the state located in the Western United States where he founded the Sundance Film Festival to support independent films. As a hub for Native Americans, pioneers and cattle ranchers, Utah has a strong and enduring Western heritage, which was embraced by the actor, who was originally born in Santa Monica, Calif.
Redford’s passion for Western culture was reflected in his role choices.
In 1969, he starred in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” a film directed by George Roy Hill and written by William Goldman. The actor’s costume, created by eight-time Academy Award winner Edith Head, translated the Wild West while creating contrast with his on-screen partner, Paul Newman. Cowboy boots were plenty in the movie.
The pioneering actor went on to wear Americana fashion on screen multiple times throughout his career, including in films such as “The Electric Horseman” (1979), in which he wore custom cowboy boots by Justin Boots, and “The Horse Whisperer” (1998), which he also directed.
While off duty, Redford kept his cowboy boots on. Whether he was in a hotel room in France or enjoying life in Sundance, the actor has been photographed in different pairs of Western-inspired footwear multiple times throughout his career. One of the latest was in 2000, when he was 63 years old.
Redford also codesigned his own pair of cowboy shoes in collaboration with the Lucchese Boot Company. The style was aptly named Bob Boots.
The footwear style became a hit in Hollywood since Redford’s rise to fame. In the past decades, Matthew McConaughey and Glen Powell, among other A-list actors, have adopted the silhouette as part of their wardrobes.
Beyond boots, Redford also made denim, button-downs and tweed blazers his signature look in the 1960s and 1970s, accompanied by his strawberry-blond hair. The actor was also known for his penchant for bold accessories, which often included leather belts with brass buckles, vintage-inspired watches, and Ray-Ban aviator sunglasses. His style influence persists until today.