“It’s no secret where our love for horses comes from,” laughed Cheryl. “I think by now we’ve told a million stories about Daddy Doug and his horses, and the whole horse racing operation that colored our childhoods. We were in the stables, we were on the road to a race, we were little pre-teens leading a horse to the Winner’s Circle to be tested because Dad had to go tend to another one we had running. Horses were always part of the picture, they’re inherent to who I am, so naturally, they will appear in my designs.”
In the Cowgirl Rising collection, however, the presence of horses is twofold, because they’re also a key component for our collaborating artist, Donna Howell-Sickles. Raised in a rural spot of north Texas, she grew up in a farming lifestyle, which familiarized her with all sorts of livestock, horses included. As an adult delving into the world of Western art that would become her legacy and livelihood, she got to create horses in the way that she wanted them to be seen and what she wanted them to represent. In most of her Western works, horses seem to convey companionship – playful, loyal, and even protective, of their confident cowgirl counterparts.
You see a lot of Donna’s horseback cowgirls throughout the Cowgirl Rising collection; namely, in the Women of The Range print pieces, which are a collage of her colorful works, as well as pieces like Horse’n Around Jacket and Tee, the Eye Dazzler Jacket, and the You Go Gal. But, you can also don Donna’s depictions of horses sans cowgirl in some of the season’s statement accessories – the already fan-favorite Horse Talkin’ Boot, with its classic cut, bold red base, and primary color accents of shapes and sunflowers complemented the pair of horse head profiles on the shaft; and the Horse Talk Handbag, which is hand-beaded in that same bold red and beautiful motif, with a silhouette cut to mirror that of the top of a cowboy boot, and that fresh, fun turquoise acrylic chain handle. (We didn’t think we’d ever love anything as much as the bamboo, but we’ve got to admit this new strap is pretty freakin’ cool.)
This collection is particularly horse-heavy – for obvious reasons, and we are absolutely here for it! – but they will always be part of DDR’s DNA. After all, they’re intrinsic to the lifestyle. Even if you’ve never racked a stall, even if you’re not that comfortable in the saddle, even if you consider yourself a concrete cowgirl, you can’t deny the reverence for horses in the Western realm.
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