Stetson: American Icon

Celebrating the style and heritage of Stetson, one of America’s oldest and most iconic brands, this beautiful book features the full range of its classic, handcrafted hats and the stylish ways cowboys and artists, movie stars and pop stars, jazz musicians and country singers have worn them over the years.

Nothing symbolizes the dream of the American West, from its rugged, dramatic landscapes to its cowboy culture, like Stetson. It was founded in 1865 by John B. Stetson, an explorer and adventurer who, during a long Western expedition, fashioned a hat with a high crown and a wide flat brim that could withstand the elements. It worked so well that he decided to mass-produce it. Renowned for its handmade, high-quality hats, Stetson soon came to represent quintessential American values: innovation, resilience, and trailblazing independence.  

This book celebrates the profound impact and influence of Stetson, and the cowboy aesthetic, on American culture. In sections including “Stetson in Song” and “Stetson on Screen,” stunning photographs show a diverse range of musicians who lay claim to the Stetson as part of their image, from Gene Autry and Loretta Lynn to Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson to Beyoncé—and a who’s who of American movie stars from Robert Redford and Clint Eastwood to Jane Fonda and John Travolta up through Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling in Barbie showing the many different ways to look good in a Stetson.  

A throughline of iconic style runs through the book, with images of such American icons as Georgia O’Keeffe, Patti Smith, and Lyndon Johnson depicting the timeless look of the Stetson. Heirloom objects, these hats are still handcrafted, and the book explores the couture-like way they’re created, including the many ways they can be customized and individually shaped.  

With evocative archival imagery and glamorous advertisements tracing the history of the brand and highlighting key moments and trends in American history and culture along the way, and with essays by cultural historians contextualizing the significance of Stetson in American culture, this book is an exciting and stunning look at America’s most important heritage brand.

About The Author

Laird Borrelli-Persson is senior archive editor at Vogue. Douglas Brinkley is a historian and author, a professor of history at Rice University, a presidential historian for CNN, and a contributing editor to Vanity Fair. Jay Fielden is a journalist, writer, editorial consultant for Ralph Lauren, and former editor of GQ. Glenn Kenny is a film critic and journalist who writes for The New York Times and RogerEbert.com. Lyle Lovett is a celebrated country songwriter and singer. Mark McKinnon is a political advisor, media strategist, and cofounder of No Labels, an organization dedicated to bipartisan political problem-solving.