Isabel Marant did not invent the cowboy boot. Nor is she responsible for its newfound fashion relevance — that is owed to Raf Simons at Calvin Klein and a bit to Clare Waight Keller at Givenchy. But it will be by Marant’s hand that Western boots — specifically, the steel-toed booties and robust thigh-high styles from her fall show — will be on the feet of trend-absorbing, fashion-loving women far and wide next season. If cowboy boots were a stock, now would be the time to buy in.
Her Western-inspired fall show was a barn-burner of very hot fashion, a display of Marant’s razor sharp instincts for what a broad swath of women — and now men, too — want out of their clothes: a sense of freedom, comfort, sexiness, sophistication and fun. Even before “Jolene” came on the soundtrack and got toes tapping on the plywood floor, it was obvious there was a Southwestern charm to the lineup. The first model out was Anna Ewers — nothing between her short blanket-striped trench with a sharp leather collar and tawny cowboy booties but her toned legs. A Seventies brown-and-black fur jacket with shiny leather lapels and long fringe that might’ve belonged to a guy from the wrong side of the tracks was worn over a short floral prairie dress and those thigh-high s–tkickers. A pretty white lace blouse over white wide-cuffed jeans felt like the French girl’s take on prairie. A ruched paisley dress over white boots could’ve been an all-American girl from the plains’ take on French chic. There were great nubby coats with colorful quilting patterns, and neat Western shirts tucked into matching ruched minis.
“It was about Western America but seen through eyes of Jim Jarmusch and John Cassavetes films,” Marant explained backstage. “All the laid-back cowboys, a bit trashy, a bit lost.” By the end of the show, she’d lost interest in cool cowboys, sending her girls out in Eighties minis, all shoulders, sleeves, microscopic hemlines, lamé and leather. A long day at the ranch deserves a late night at a party.