Rockmount’s musical history offers a lesson in lasting style. This week, designers in Pendleton and jewelers in Tucson are showing how much personality a skilled pair of hands can put into what we wear.
Before the stage lights catch the guitar, they catch the shirt. A sharp yoke. A flash of snaps. Enough attitude to hold its own beside an amplifier.
Rockmount Ranch Wear has dressed that moment for decades. Founded in Denver in 1946, the family business built a following that includes Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. In an October 13 Cowboys & Indians interview, Steve Weil revisits the musicians and movie wardrobes chronicled in his book Rockmount Legends: Celebrities in Classic American Fashion. With his son Colter joining the company, that story now reaches a fourth generation.
The appeal is easy to understand. A Western shirt gives its wearer a silhouette before they have said a word. Rockmount’s sawtooth pockets and diamond snaps are small decisions with remarkable staying power. Put one under a jacket or wear it loose over faded jeans: the personality is already there.
This week’s most intriguing next chapter unfolds in Pendleton, Oregon, where the inaugural Interwoven runs October 15–17. Eight designers will present original collections in Friday’s Unresidency show. Each has been developing the work in their own community, with ownership of the garments and designs remaining theirs.
Among them, Idaho’s Mary Rane makes small-batch Western-inspired pieces using leather, vintage textiles, old quilts and Pendleton wool. Chainstitch embroidery adds another layer of character to her practice. You can imagine the appeal to someone who wants a jacket with the presence of a favorite record sleeve: texture, history and an unmistakable point of view.
Umatilla designer Dorothy Cyr brings a different history to the same event. Her Lux’ Lux’ Creations practice encompasses ribbon apparel, regalia and pieces using Pendleton blanket material. Her work makes a persuasive case for learning the designer’s name alongside the garment’s details.
That attention to authorship carries into Tucson. Arizona State Museum’s Forge + Future program at Tucson Meet Yourself, October 16–18, explores the studio lives of nine contemporary Indigenous jewelry artists. Diné silversmith Jennifer Curtis is among them. She works with heavy-gauge silver and steel stamps inherited from her father, Thomas Curtis, carrying family knowledge into pieces shaped by her own judgment.
There is a useful wardrobe lesson here. Look closely at the pocket, the stitch, the stamped silver. Ask who made it and how. The best Western pieces have enough character to become part of your own signature, whether your next stop is a backstage door or the neighborhood bar.