I've always loved the Southwestern style of design, in fashion, furnishings and architecture. If done right, it's clean and natural and also colorful and welcoming at the same time. I recently visited deep Southwestern Texas, which is so picturesque and "real" compared with Dallas that I already had photos set up in my mind based on the times I've visited, before. I was going to get a shot of the Cowboy I saw in the grocery store, who wore chaps and spurs. Seriously - and it's because he needed to wear them - because he was an actual working Cowboy. It's not just in the movies, my friends...real Cowboys exist in these here hills. I still remember the awe of seeing one for the first time, and so my dream was to photograph him in front of the super-cool old-timey drug store that was there. (Get it? Drug Store Cowboy?) Of course, I didn't see the Cowboy, and sadly, the drug store closed down.

I didn't get a shot of the Javelina, either...buggers never showed up until the evening after my husband and I left.

What I did get was the sound of total silence. I saw the Milky Way (tried to take a picture, but it didn't work out.) I experienced absolutely no traffic at all, fed deer and foxes, saw wind farms and prickly pear farms, and revisited my love of bird-watching in an environment that supported more than pigeons and grackle.

What does this have to do with Style?

Everything. The southwest, and especially the desert southwest of Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico, is where this style was born. It is old and still rugged territory. Remnants of the Permian Sea - the same waters that brought sea creatures to the ancient Midwestern plains - still exist there, underground. There are reminders everywhere of the birth of the continent - arrow heads, cave art, giant fossilized sea creatures. In much of that country, land conservation and environmentalism blend with an understanding of the tragedies and dangers of nature. That environment has a feel of its own, and it is reflected in the design that it is known for. It's also practical style, in a world that is hot and dry and dusty in summer, and in the mountain regions, painfully cold in winter - the fabrics and materials reflect that. Housing tends to blend in with the environment to preserve the natural beauty, and any colors and textures used come from the colors and textures of the desert.

There are a lot of things that constitute Southwestern style, but there are six ingredients that are always present at some point, at least in the states with Mexican influence, and they all come from the motherland of the desert: skeletons, cacti, boots, leather, and the Virgin Mary.

And, let's not forget that the Southwestern style is just cool. It's bad-ass looking, and who doesn't like to look like a bad-ass?

I made up a slideshow of photos I took over the weekend, and am adding a couple that aren't mine but that exhibit the essential ingredients of the Southwestern Style...check it out!

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