One of Toronto’s most unique institutions, Bata Shoe Museum, is celebrating its 30-year anniversary with a new exhibition titled Rough & Ready: A History of the Cowboy Boot curated by the museum’s Director and Senior Curator, Elizabeth Semmelhack. It explores the history, craftsmanship, symbolism and cultural evolution of cowboy boots from their invention in the nineteenth century to today. 

The exhibition spans from 19th century boots to the image of Cowboy Carter. The origin of the cowboy boot stretches beyond the American West. It was shaped by centuries of global equestrian innovation. In the exhibition, visitors can find antique Persian, Mexican and British examples of this transformation.

By the 1930 and 1940s, costume versions of cowboy boots started to be marketed for children. Fuelled by the growing popularity of Western films and singing cowboys, many children were dreaming to be like their heroes. The exhibit demonstrates this evolution, which culminates with today’s kids hero, cowboy Woody from Disney’s Toy Story animated films.

The exhibition looks at how popular culture, particularly movies and music, have influenced the boot’s design. Radio and “talkies” transformed the cowboy into a singing storyteller. Gene Autry was a renowned Singing Cowboy, who loved cowboy boots. A newspaper at the time even noted that he had “a little mania” of buying cowboy boots, which he was constantly wearing. The show displays some of the singer’s boots that were loaned by Autry Museum of the American West.

Notably, Canadian history is also represented. One of the highlights of the exhibition is the Canadian-made cowboy boots from the early 1920s that were worn at the Calgary Stampede parades. Curator’s pick includes a pair of bespoke boots that was made for the country musician Orville Peck by Emily Boksenbaum.

The exhibition presents various boots from brands specializing in cowboy boots, like Charlie Dunn, Hyer, Justin and Lucchese, and also features big fashion houses like Ralph Lauren, who has long romanticized the American West in his work, as well as Louis Vuitton’s latest collection by Pharrell Williams in 2024.

Bright and colourful with unique embroidery, patterns and designs, the exhibition demonstrates the world of craftsmanship of a cowboy boot and puts it in a wider cultural context. This is a fascinating exhibition about how a practical item has become an embodiment of contradictions. They have symbolized labour and leisure, freedom and domination, tradition and reinvention, power and privilege, as well as resistance and reclamation. 

The exhibition runs until October 2026. 

Photography by Darina Granik. Feature image courtesy of the Bata Shoe Museum and Darren Rigo.