Tucking jeans into your cowboy boots, a fashion faux pas or nah?

Expect to see a lot of cowboys and cowgirls in their boots this month when the National Western Stock Show opens in Denver. Just in time for the January 11 kickoff, we settle a sartorial subject: Should western boots be worn over jeans or should jeans be worn over boots?

The question came up recently when Colorado Matters Senior Host Ryan Warner posted a photo of his jeans tucked into black cowboy boots. Ryan swiftly got a reply from Bluesky follower Sam DeWitt. “Why are they over your jeans?” DeWitt asked. In other words, why were his jeans tucked into his boots?

Here are some of Ryan’s thoughts: He admitted he likes to show off the white stitching on his boot shafts. Also, he was headed to an interview at a whisky distillery and didn’t want to get his jeans dirty. Ryan also pointed to a famous 1955 portrait in the Metropolitan Museum of Art of a cowboy – as evidence he’d made the right choice.

We put the matter to Carrie Moldenhauer, vice president of design and marketing for Denver-based Carmen, Inc. whose brands include Stetson, Roper, and Tin Haul. She, in turn, asked one of her clients, a world champion team roper.

“For a true cowboy, his answer was, he would never do it. Nobody he really ropes with or works with [does] it. I mean, in their opinion, it’s not a look for them.”

But Mondenhauer said that’s not a universal view. She pointed to a subset of cowboys called “buckaroos” who often tuck their jeans into their boots.

“A lot of their reasoning is practical, like keeping their jeans from getting caught on brush and weeds when they’re out herding cows, and … not get mud on their jeans,” Moldenhauer said.

“The buckaroos also fancy themselves as being maybe just a little bit showier. They want to show off the top of their boot.”

Still, Moldenhauer said her client/expert roper sees things differently.

“Well, I’d rather have mud on my jeans than mud on my boots,” he told her. 

In any case, Moldenhauer noted Western wear is experiencing a real surge beyond the ranching world.  

“Louis Vuitton is doing Western. It’s very fashionable, very crossover,” she said.

Yet, Mondenhauer said, design has always been part of the ethos of Western bootmaking, with intricate embroidery and unique leather inlays.

“The shaft design is trying to be something fun and creative and artsy, whether it’s a bluebird, or cactus, or stars,” she said. “There’s all kinds of different ways to design the top of the boot.” 

Hart Van Denburg/CPR News

That includes Moldenhauer’s design of black boots with gold stars that Nicole Kidman wore a few years ago for a layout in Australian Vogue. 

“It was beautiful and it was so exciting,” Moldenhauer recounted.

Mondenhauer said if she’s at a company event or at a rodeo, she’ll don Western wear, but she doesn’t like to overdo it.

“I don’t live on a ranch and I don’t have a horse – as much as I would love to. So I do hesitate putting it on me or my family when we are not living that lifestyle,” she said. “And that is because I’ve been surrounded all these years by people who do live that lifestyle. I want it to feel authentic when I’m wearing it.”

Moldenhauer said she always wants to be respectful of ranch life.

“So I typically wear mine as more of a fashion piece. I’ll mix it with other things in my closet. I maybe don’t do head-to-toe.” 

Back to the original question, Moldenhauer said you won’t see many real cowboys wearing their boots outside of their jeans.

“If they’re kind of old-school core Western cowboys, then absolutely they would never do it.” 

Ryan, we think it’s time for you to untuck those jeans.

“I’ll do me. You do you,” Ryan replied at the suggestion.