This fascination with six-shooters, spurs, and lassos in the Wild West has been with us since the inception of the open range, but it really crystallized as a central part of our psyche with the popularization of Western films.  The fact that these films often casted such capable, charismatic actors as Gene Autry and Roy Rogers didn’t hurt their popularity.

There’s further proof that cowboy boots, along with the men who wear them, are important to us: backing by the U.S. Postal Service.  That’s right: according to an article posted on the Los Angeles Daily News website, a series of commemorative stamps honoring some of these legends of the Western genre of film.  Autry and Rogers are portrayed, as are two other notable actors famous for working in the field, Tom Mix and William S. Hart.

Designed by Robert Rodriguez, an illustrator who has helped design a dozen other stamps, these actors are portrayed in a romantic, idealized way that reflects the themes of these movies very well.

All four actors were known for performing roles as cowboys that were fundamentally good, arrayed against forces of chaos, such as bandit gunslingers, that they strove to overcome.  As Rodriguez says, quoted in the Daily News article, “They weren’t Clint Eastwood-style heroes…They were the real heroes.”

Appropriately, all four men are illustrated wearing their trademarked cowboy hats.  No word on whether any of them are wearing Justin boots, one of our favorite brands—these stamps are, after all, rather small, so they’re basically just headshots.

NewsOK.com recently published a story about the museum’s acquisition of the suit. They bought it at an auction in 2005 for around $9,000, and it cost $5,000 to make the special mannequin and a protective case for it. According to the article, the suit originally cost $10,000 to make in 1971 when a famous rodeo tailor created it.

The curator of cowboy collections, Don Reeves, explained that the Electric Horseman suit “tells the story, visually and otherwise, of the rhinestone cowboy/urban cowboy craze … of the 1970s and ’80s.” And this isn’t the first costume from Electric Horseman to be at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. Back in the 1980s, the  museum borrowed Robert Redford’s lighted suit from the movie.

In the article, Reeves goes on to say it’s an iconic artifact that’s not only an “amazing piece on its own merit but also stands as a symbol of the height of … Western performer fashion.”

Without a doubt, it seems this famous cowboy costume will have a great home at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.

Western Wear at Allens Boots

You won’t find anything quite like Robert Redford’s Electric Horseman suit or cowboy boots at Allens Boots, but you will find some great Western wear and cowboy boots from Lucchese, Justin, Frye, Old Gringo and more. Stop by our Austin store, or shop online.

Jessica Simpson has gone country!  Well at least her taste in music and her taste in boots have.  It makes sense that Jessica is becoming a country music singer.  She is from Dallas, Texas, she possesses that wonderful southern accent, and she does make a pair of cowboy boots look pretty darn good.

Jessica Simpson Gives Top 40 the Boot!

Jessica has always been known as a pop singer, but her new album that comes out in early September, titled “Do You Know,” is her first venture into the world of country music stardom.  Jessica appears on the cover of her new album donning a white dress and a pair of cowboy boots.  We have been wondering what brand those boots are since we saw that picture.  Are they Ariat, Tony Lama, Lucchese, or perhaps even Justin?

Jessica Simpson’s Boots are made for Walking

Because of her new trek into country music, Jessica has been seen wearing cowboy boots a lot lately.  However, this is not her first rodeo with cowboy boots.  Back in 2005, Jessica played the infamous Daisy Duke in the movie “The Dukes of Hazzard.”  She most definitely got used to wearing boots during that movie.  Although it probably was her “These Boots are Made for Walking” video that put her cowboy-boot wearin’ on the map.  After that video, the demand for Jessica’s red cowboy boots was so high that she ended up carrying them in her own Jessica Simpson shoe line.

Jessica Simpson’s Red Boots

Now we may not carry Jessica Simpson’s red boots at Allens, but we do carry one of the most extensive selections of women’s cowboy boots this side of Hazzard County. And if it is red cowboy boots you want, than look no further than the Justin Scarlet Vintage boot or the Charlie 1 Horse Red Calf Western boot.  Whatever mood that Jessica and her boots have put you in, we have got you covered.

N@ked Cowboy Sues M&M’s.  That almost sounds like a title to a comedy film, except it is an actual story. New York City’s famous “N@ked Cowboy” has filed suit against Mars Corporation, the maker of M&M’s.  The N@ked Cowboy, also known as Robert Burke, is claiming trademark infringement by the candy maker.  Apparently the blue M&M is dressed like Burke on the large animation screen outside of M&M’s Times Square store; and Burke claims that the may be construed as his endorsement of the product.

History of the N@ked Cowboy

The 37-year-old N@ked Cowboy walks around Times Square playing the guitar in nothing but a cowboy hat, white underwear, and white cowboy boots.  However, Times Square isn’t the only place that you can find the N@ked Cowboy.  He seems to make his way to New Orleans every year for Mardi gras; and he has even seemed to make an appearance or two in our very own Lone Star capital, Austin, Texas.  If you want to catch him here, start looking in March during the South by Southwest Music Festival.

N@ked Cowboy Look-a-Like

Now if you are finding yourself wanting to emulate the N@ked Cowboy, than you are probably going to need to swing by Allens Boots and get yourself a nice pair of white cowboy boots.  I am sure that you will be able to find exactly the boots you are looking for among our large selection of Justin, Lucchese, Tony Lama, and many other boot makers.

Now that you have your boots picked out, you will need to wander over to our hat section and see if you can’t find yourself the perfect Stetson or Resistol.

As far as the last part of the outfit, the white underwear … Well, as much as we would like to say we have everything you need, we got to tell you that you are on your own with those.

*Photo by LinksmanJD

Q: How did you discover Allens Boots?

A: I was trying to find some Lucchese boots on Zappos, but it simply didn’t have the selection that I wanted, so I went to Google and typed in Lucchese and came upon [Allens] Boots.

Q: You were in town for SXSW. Did you make it by the store?

A: I was, but I didn’t know about the store then. Nor was I looking for boots. It’s a long convoluted story: I met a bunch of crazy web folks from Houston at SXSW. In a few weeks I’m speaking in San Antonio, so I decided to hop on over to Houston to see those folks again. One day the guy who taught me how to ice skate showed me his Lucchese [boots], so I decided I had to have a pair for my San Antonio-Houston boondoggle. That led to my search for boots online.

Q: Cowboy boots don’t necessarily seem like the natural footwear choice for someone from Hawaii who went to school at Stanford and became a tech executive and author. When did you start wearing boots, and why?

A: My wife made me buy a pair years ago, but I hardly wore them. Then I spoke in Phoenix for a fast-food association, and they gave all the guests a pair of boots. I liked them so much that I decided I wanted another one in black. My wife told me to buy Lucchese from Zappos.

Q: How often do you wear your boots?

A: I go in spurts. I’ll wear them every day for a week, then not at all for a month, then every day for a week. I like to travel with them because they’re easy to put on after passing through airport security, but having to pack three pairs of shoes (sneakers to work out in, dress shoes for speaking in and boots) can be a pain.

Q: What do you wear your boots with – traditional blue jeans, slacks, khakis?

A: Jeans. Boots are only made for jeans.

Q: How many pairs of boots do you own?

A: Four, not counting the one I ordered.

Q: What made you choose the Men’s Lucchese Classics Tan Mad Dog Goat?

A: It’s the simplest design I could find. I don’t want to look like a pimp who is trying too hard, and ostrich gives me the creeps.

Q: You have a lot of projects going on – what’s your biggest at the moment and why?

A: My primary project is Alltop.com. This is a collection of sites covering a diversity of topics on the Internet like wine, food, art, music, fashion, politics, economics, journalism, cars, gadgets, design, environment, etc. We assemble all the top stories and present their headlines on one page. You can think of it as an “online magazine rack.”

Q: What’s next for the cowboy boot wearing Guy Kawasaki?

A: There’s lots of work to do with Alltop. I’m also a venture capitalist looking for the next Google. Incidentally, as a venture capitalist, I have to deal with a lot of bullsh*t, so that’s why I need boots.

About Guy Kawasaki

Popular entrepreneur, venture capitalist and blogger, Guy Kawasaki is a managing director of Garage Technology Ventures and a columnist for Entrepreneur Magazine. Previously an Apple Fellow at Apple Computer, Inc., Guy is the author of eight books including The Art of the Start, Rules for Revolutionaries, and How to Drive Your Competition Crazy. Currently Guy is focused on Alltop, a metasite providing immersive content on dozens of topics.