Everybody needs a pair of denim chaps. Just ask Beyoncé.
The next drop of the singer’s popular Adidas x Ivy Park collection will celebrate the often overlooked history of Black cowboys and cowgirls and their continued influence and impact on American rodeo.
Called Ivy Park Rodeo, the collection is extensive — 58 women’s and unisex apparel pieces, five shoes and 13 accessories — all designed as reimagined and modernized takes on classic Western wear.
Beyoncé started teasing the collection on the Ivy Park website and Instagram page earlier this week with a video feature on the actor Glynn Turman (of “The Wire,” “How to Get Away With Murder” and “Fargo”) riding a horse and talking about how he spent his days in the stables of Central Park shoveling manure so he could ride for free and how important Black cowboys were in settling the American West. He is photographed alongside his granddaughter Melinda Siegel whom he taught to ride and who now teaches the sport to underserved youth at Camp Gid D Up that Turman founded with his wife.
A block of copy overlaid on the image on the Ivy Park web page reads: “Born and raised in New York City, it is sometimes hard to imagine that the sometimes-director of stage productions [Glynn Turman] has also been a real-life cowboy. He says from as long as he could remember, he has had a fascination with horses. An accomplished horseman and rodeo champion off-screen, he and his wife, Jo-Ann, cofounded and direct a free Western-style summer camp, ‘Camp Gid D Up’ for inner-city and at-risk youth since 1992. He credits that attending youth camps as a kid saved him from juvenile delinquency.”
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It continues: “In 1999, Glynn Turman won the state’s Regional Team Roping Finals and placed in the top five in the National U.S. Team Roping Champion Finals in Oklahoma City. In November 2011, Glynn was inducted into the Western Heritage Multi-Cultural Museum’s Hall of Fame in Fort Worth, Texas. And this year for Juneteenth, he saw his lifelong work to bring the Black Rodeo to television realized on CBS.”
In the photos, Turman is wearing a denim jacket and jeans with Adidas’ trademark three stripes running down the side alongside Siegel who sports the chaps over shorts.
The Ivy Park Rodeo collection is heavily rooted in denim and will offer up dark washes with distinct monograms and purple glow cow prints accented with utilitarian-inspired zips and snap fasteners. There will be a denim body suit, a wide-leg snap pant, tracksuit, bucket hat and, yes, chaps.
Fabrics will include 100 percent 16.5-ounce blue twill denim, 99 percent cotton/1 percent elastane 10.8-ounce denim and 100 percent cotton 13 –ounce cow-print cotton twill denim.
There is even an IVP Ultraboost sneaker that mimics the look of denim.
In addition, washed heavy French terry will also be well represented in the collection, offered up in a hoodie with matching sweatpants. Other key pieces include a small cotton canvas waist bag, a durag, socks, bandanas, a new colorway of the IVP Forum Mid sneaker and the introduction of the IVP Super Sleek “Chunky,” which boasts an exaggerated outsole combined with a classic upper offered in two colorways.
As in the past, the collection offers inclusive sizing with apparel in XXXS to 4XL.
Prices range from $45 to $200 for the apparel and $25 to $75 for the accessories. The shoes will retail for $140 to $200.
The Rodeo collection will launch exclusively on the Adidas website on Aug. 19 for 24 hours only; the global launch will happen the next day.
The most recent, much smaller drop of Adidas x Ivy Park collection was last month when the partners unveiled the Flex Park swimwear capsule.
The first Ivy Park collection with Adidas debuted last January. Beyoncé had launched the line with Topshop in 2016. But after sexual assault allegations surfaced around Sir Philip Green, Topshop’s then-chief executive officer, which he denied, she bought back his shares and assumed full ownership of the line in November 2018. In 2019, she revealed that she had brought the collection to Adidas.
Black cowboys have been receiving more attention lately: In addition to the Black rodeo show that aired on CBS in June, the Compton Cowboys, a group of Black horseback riders who use equestrian culture to positively influence inner-city youth and combat negative racial stereotypes in Compton, Calif., were featured in the Tommy Hilfiger campaign and created a collection with Ariat, a Western brand.
In the Instagram post on the Ivy Park site, Siegel said she has been inspired by the Black cowboys and cowgirls in Compton and elsewhere since she was a young girl, especially the all-Black Bill Pickett Rodeo in Los Angeles. “Passing on the legacy of the American Black cowboy is very important to me,” she said. “The life lessons I have gained working with horses [have] taught me humility, respect and the ability to be vulnerable. You learn quickly that too much ego and pride will land you in the dirt. I am blessed to represent a secret part of American history by being a modern-day Black cowgirl.”