Laufey stepped out in New York City on Tuesday wearing a subdued take on a cowboy boot — though her shoes were an older Chanel style, the “quiet Western” aesthetic is very much of the moment.
Laufey appeared to be wearing 2010s archival Chanel knee-high boots in black leather. With an understated look that blends the aesthetics of a cowboy boot and a riding boot, the shoe featured minimalist linear detailing and a softly scalloped shaft. The style also includes a block heel and a round toe, eschewing the snip-toe cowboy boots that are known for. The boots added a light Western touch to Laufey’s preppy outfit otherwise consisting of a collared shirt and sweater combo with a black skirt, all underneath a Burberry trenchcoat.
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Laufey’s footwear choice might just be the latest indication of a growing trend in our current Western fashion frenzy: the subtle cowboy boot. While the ultra-popular shoe style, buoyed in the market by factors like pop culture and music festivals, might be associated with decorative stitching or multicolored palettes, several brands are presenting quieter designs.
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Examples are plentiful. In the fall, womenswear label Adam Lippes teamed up with cowboy boot brand Partlow on leather and suede cowboy boot styles that were designed without toe-box stitching and featured pull tabs reinterpreted with a contemporary sharpness. Even more brands offer boots without stitching or a pared-back version of the quintessential cowboy boot feature. Tecovas presents its Charlie boot in camel and cafe colorways, a clean slate save for minimalist western stitching. Khaite has its Clive boot, a style with a purposely tilted shaft, snip toe and stacked heel, another option without decorative stitching.
Several labels see the minimalist interpretation to be an urban take on the classic style. Larroudé says of its knee-high Florencia boot, featuring antiqued black leather and a snip toe, “This sleek reimagining of a Western boot marries cowboy energy with city style.” On a similar note, an official release for the Adam Lippes and Partlow collaboration read, “Each boot is designed to move effortlessly between the urban and the rural.” And Marc Fisher said of its Anderson Leather Western Boot, another sleek-pared back style, “Western boots get a polished, city-ready update” and the brand adds that it “nods to the genre without overdoing it.”
On the celebrity front, Laufey wouldn’t be the only one to have tried out the quiet Western look. Taylor Swift wore Christian Louboutin’s Santia Botta cowboy boots to a Kansas City Chiefs game in 2024, a leather and suede stiletto style with classic stitch detailing — but the black colorway makes it subtle. And instead of a Western snip toe, it features a modern pointed toe. In a more recent example, while not a cowboy boot, Kendall Jenner wore black leather Bente boots from Ann Demeulemeester at Coachella, a minimalist round-toe style with pull tabs and a stacked block heel.
Brands and stars embracing low-key Western boots falls in line with the ongoing quiet luxury trend, which is all about elevated minimalism.