A rancher drives down the road in their Chevy pickup, a cowboy hat is resting on the dashboard and the driver is wearing a camo sweatshirt. But when they get out and step into town, instead of people thinking, “What a redneck” they think instead, “Wow! I just saw that top on TikTok, it’s so cute.” This rise and return of Americana is making waves in both urban and rural America, but why?
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the definition of Americana is: “materials concerning or characteristic of America, its civilization, or its culture.” Now, this can be anything from music, to movies, to clothing, anything that has been seen or known as a cultural phenomenon in America, but what comes to mind immediately, is rural America, maybe even cowboys.
The most clear-cut understanding of this “country-aesthetic” rise in recent years seems to put the beacon onto social media. Fast fashion, as defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary as “an approach to the design, creation, and marketing of clothing fashions that emphasizes making fashion trends quickly and cheaply available to consumers,” has been running rampant for years, especially seen with the rise of social media and companies such as Shein. The country aesthetics rise seems to be attributed to two sides of the fast fashion trend seen recently.
The first side is that the Americana styles can simply be attributed to another trend circulating on social platforms, and is just another way for companies to get cheaply made products out to thirsty consumers quickly.
However, it may be deeper than that. With seemingly cheap and poorly made clothes surrounding consumers at all times, it becomes increasingly difficult to find and even want to find clothing that is durable and well-made. Country and workwear brands like Carhartt, Levi’s, Dickies, and even more clothing specific brands like Wrangler (jeans) and Realtree (camouflage) have seen a rise with their more durable and long lasting clothes. Maybe it’s a more welcome change to the cheaper clothing, and not just based on looks.
The Americana Aesthetic has a lot of ties to the Wild West, to cowboys and ranching. And all of that is great, less based on looks, this is based on work. Ranching and farming is difficult work, always, the blue collar work required for life in rural america is not always cute and sweet, it’s difficult. Although the romanticized version seen online of anything is better than reality, it must be recognized that the work put in is not just for show. TV shows like “Yellowstone” and other media shows show a fake version of ranch life, the workwear can only be part of it.
But is the reason that farm life becomes romanticized because of a need for something different? A need for nature in urban America’s tech-filled life? Its imagery brings urbanites into what it means to be in nature, which might be needed more often.
The Americana aesthetic truly does rely heavily on the nature of rural America. Literally, the nature surrounding human settlements. Rural life thrives in the mountains, in the desert, in the plains, and the practicality and functionality of workwear can play into the outdoorsy life.
Urban America is often isolated from nature, maybe not on purpose but skyscrapers leading into suburban sprawl doesn’t leave much room for trees and grass. This itch for rural areas and aesthetics could be more than the looks, but a longing for the natural beauty and environment that humans have been around for centuries that is slowly disappearing.
Americana has been regarded lowly in many communities for some time. Its connection to racism, sexism, homophobia, and other forms of bigotry normalized by some, throughout history that associate themselves with this aesthetic. This history cannot be ignored when talking about both Americana and America itself, ever.
The aesthetic of the country does have its shortcomings, no matter what is popularized right now, and people should be careful about anything they regard as a lifestyle. Do the values in the aesthetic reflect your values as a person?
That being said, Country and Americana has the opportunity to continue to grow more welcoming and into a different light while keeping what is so loved about folk, bluegrass, and country as a whole.
