The trucker chic trend has stepped off the treatment of Pharrell video and has taken hold to the point where Marc Jacobs’ decorated his West Village store with those ubiquitous caps this summer. Rock ‘n roll t-shirts extolling Judas Priest and Motley Crue have bafflingly showed staying power for seasons now. And dirty denims and distressed boots have become the urban hipster uniform. It does not astonish then that at the Milan and Paris menswear shows designers continue to work in this mustache machismo spirit. It’s about cowboy gear plucked directly from a dude ranch for Spring 2004. Not just a smattering of looks, cowboy most notably defined the Gucci collection where Tom Ford decked his men out in Stetson type hats and western-style leather jackets paired with snugged denim. At Miu Miu earthy-colored, fitted trousers and plantation boots said sturdy cowboy. Is it the tense times in the world today that permit a man to pamper himself Beckham-style but dictate that his clothes should send a not-to-be-messed-with message? Does president Bush at his Texan ranch have something to do with this trend? These answers we prefer to leave to you.


- Jason Campbell
Photo: Gucci Spring 2004