Western , also known as the Wild West , is a literary genre inspired by the lives of early settlers of the American Frontier. The Western aesthetic entails themes of self-reliance, solitude, and wildness. Western folklore often includes tales of lone vigilantes travelling the American Frontier on horseback, more times than not armed with a six-shooter revolver or a rifle and prepared to dole out justice.

Visually, the Western aesthetic shares many similarities to that of Country , but places an emphasis on imagery of the historical Wild West, as well as the motifs of vigilantism and adventure commonly depicted in popular Western films. While the Country aesthetic romanticizes the life of family, farming, and living in the countryside, Western focuses more on the idea of the wilderness, specifically the desert and prairie, as well as wandering town to lawless town dotted across the American Frontier.

The Western look emerged at the time of American expansion westward from the settlers who founded the first townships. Old West attire was commonly handmade and included warm earth tones and organic materials. The outfits and style of American cowboys were inspired by Mexican Vaqueros who taught the cowboys many of their techniques for cow herding. Wide-brimmed hats to protect from the scorching desert sun and spurs crucial for horse riding were essential for all travelling frontiersmen and women.

Sunsets and tumbleweeds are iconic symbols of the Western setting. The Western aesthetic includes barren or semi-arid deserts, prairies, and mountains that are scattered across the American Frontier. The outposts and small towns that inhabited the West were marked by wooden buildings, saloons, churches, and other small developments.

Crime was extremely rife in the Old West and is a major theme of the Western aesthetic. Rogue gangs of armed outlaws ran wild in the Old West, such as Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch or the Cochise County Cowboys, who may have been responsible for connecting the term "Cowboy" to mean "Outlaw." The notoriety and shenanigans of popular Wild West gangs inspired much of Western media that followed after the fall of the American Frontier.

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Western fashion typically includes organic fabrics and warm tones. Fashion often revolved around utility and practicality for outdoor work. Leather, cowboy boots, and wide-brimmed hats mark some of the key characteristics of Western fashion. Brimmed hats were a cowboy's most important piece of clothing, as they helped keep the elements out of their eyes and face when riding or doing any other work. Cowboys often took extra care into upkeeping the quality of their hats, often owning hat brushes or taking them into town to get them reshaped or repaired. Good quality hats were often a family heirloom that could be passed down for many decades.

Modern rodeo fashion often includes bright colors, elaborate embroidery, and the usage of decorative rhinestones in order to distinguish different riders.

Much like its namesake, the well-worn trends, traditions, and motifs of Western have been explored in great detail in a variety of mediums, most notably the Western film genre. The Hollywood Western was first popularized in the early 20th century by John Ford's 1939 film Stagecoach . John Wayne, the main actor of Stagecoach , later went on to become one of the most notable Hollywood Western film actors.

The Spaghetti Western is a subgenre of the traditional Western film produced in Europe. The subgenre emerged in mid-1960s among Italian director Sergio Leone's box-office successes that caught the attention of viewers around the globe. Clint Eastwood is one of the best known actors in the Spaghetti Western film genre. Eastwood is best known for his role as "The Man with No Name" in the Dollars Trilogy.