In her leather working studio, Kari McCluey hangs a pair of bright pink chaps, their sides decorated with shiny metal conchos embedded in three-dimensional leather flowers. The Boise leather artist is known by cowgirls for her whimsical chaps that embrace and embody femininity. McCluey has been making chaps for two decades, and lately she’s received more recognition for her signature vibrant details, which stand in stark contrast to the usual muted, brown and masculine tones of traditional western gear.
Chaparreras, shortened to “chaps,” are Mexican in origin, and the tradition of wearing them traces back to Mexican cowboys, known as vaqueros. These leather overgarments were created to protect a cowboy’s pants from the elements while on horseback.
There are different types of chaps for different functions and times of year. The shotgun chap is a more traditional, full length chap worn by working ranchers. Zip-down full length chaps are more commonly used in colder weather.
At the beginning of the 20th century, as cowboys competed more in rodeos, they turned toward showier styles, such as angora wool chaps and “batwing” chaps. These wider leg styles flapped in the arena and were decorated with more tooling and fringe. Now, chaps and rodeo attire are evolving again.
McCluey makes all types of chaps, but she has found her stride designing and making bold and stylish chaps for women. The extra ornament and color on her chaps, though loved by her clients, is not always accepted as proper attire during rodeo events.
“Cutting would be very traditional. Same thing with reined cow horse,” said McCluey. “They're not going to wear a pink pair of chaps.”
Cutting is an event where a rider and horse demonstrate skill in directing cattle through movement back and forth to separate out a calf from its herd. In a reined cow horse event, the rider uses the horse reins to guide their horse to herd a single calf through a specific pattern in the arena. McCluey’s customers tend to participate in newer events and aren't as bound by tradition.
“My biggest clientele would be the ranch riders. That's a kind of a newer event in ranch versatility or ranch riding,” said McCluey.
Ranch riding and ranch rodeos feature events centered around skills used on a ranch, such as branding, loading into trailers and maneuvering a horse and calf through obstacle courses. Men and women compete together in the events, just like they work together on the range. The ranch rodeo is rooted in less formal gatherings of ranching communities. But over time, it’s turned into a highly formalized and regulated event with professional cowboys who make a living competing.
Ranch rodeos are an increasingly popular venue where professional ranchers can show off their day-to-day ranch skills and connect with others. The dress code isn’t as strict, and in a hotter summer climate McCluey said many female competitors prefer wearing a short chap with fringe, referred to as “chinks.”
“I just think they're fun,” said McCluey. “They're ranchy, I love the movement of them. And in the summer they'll be a little cooler.”
She made her first pair of chinks more than 20 years ago. That’s when she befriended mentor and leather worker Deana Attebery.
At the time, they both owned land and horses in Middleton, Idaho. Attebery grew up ranching and learned leather work on her family’s ranch. Her parents noticed her artistic aptitude and encouraged her creativity by teaching her to work with leather. Soon, she repaired all the tack in the barn and made her own gear for extra money. As an adult, she launched a leather design business selling hand-tooled belts, including for McCluey and her children. She remembers when McCluey decided to try making chaps herself.
“She comes over with her horse and her chinks and wanted me to look at them because she knew I was doing leather work,” said Attebery, adding that the two bonded over a mutual love of making things.
“It's the first thing I made,” said McCluey. “I was so proud of ‘em. And they are hideous. They're so bad.”
Attebery said they weren’t bad, but she agreed they weren’t the same caliber as McCluey’s chaps today. At the time, she offered to show McCluey some leather working skills, such as how to stamp, and other pointers.
“I like teaching. I'm not the flashy person, but I like to share. I have a heart for people that want to learn."Deana Attebery
Now McCluey owns her own leather shop in Boise, Seven Devils Leather, where she makes custom chaps. Each pair is an original design and she never repeats them.
From the beginning, McCluey couldn’t help imparting her love of color and girlishness on her creations. She gravitated toward colorful dyed leather in electric blue, neon pink and deep purple hues. She also hand painted the flowers she tooled.
“I'd see a hide at the saddle shop that I worked [at], and I was like, ‘oh man,’ I could almost envision what I'd make with that,” said McCluey.
When she saw a blue hide she envisioned morning glories curling their vines and growing pale blue blossoms. As she worked, daisies, gardenias, hollyhocks and hummingbirds sprung out of the leather in technicolor.
“Sometimes the leather just speaks to you,” McCluey said.
But she quickly realized not everyone shares her taste in pinks and purples. At leather shows she overheard some people with more traditional taste laughing at her work and saying it wasn’t serious. Despite the bruised ego, she couldn’t help the pull to follow her own vision. She continued to attend leather shows and horse events, and she found her niche selling chinks to the women who “got her.”
These days, colorful leather motifs are more popular on the scene, and she’s enjoying a lot of demand for her creations. Attitudes have changed – women are not trying to fit in with the cowboys as much. Attebery said now more women are comfortable being themselves and the fashion follows.
“The girls, they just want to be pretty and they want to be punchy. They want to be cute. They want to be strong as well as being totally feminine,” she said, adding that McCluey’s work addresses that need.
McCluey noticed a connection her customers feel to the chaps when they encounter the perfect pair at her booth. She recalled being at a horse show once when from across the arena a woman with purple hair spotted matching purple chaps at McCluey’s booth.
“It was like magic. I'm like, ‘Do you want to try them on?’ She was just over the moon. They fit her like I made them for her. That happens a lot, where I just feel like I make chaps and their cowgirl finds them and they always fit.”Kari McCluey
Last year, McCluey decided to expand her repertoire into making saddles. She called Attebery to see if she might be willing to help her learn the art and the two applied for an apprenticeship award through the Idaho Commission on the Arts.
“It's a thousand different thoughts of how something should be done,” said McCluey.
The program supports new artists with funds for supplies and by paying experienced artists to teach them. Having an experienced saddle maker assist a first-time saddle maker reduces costly mistakes, such as wasting expensive leather on an inefficient pattern. McCluey knew she would benefit from having a guide.
“That's where my experience on the ranch comes in,” said Attebery. “There's reasons for why we put things where we do on a saddle – because they have to be used.”
Although it was McCluey’s first effort at a complicated project, she stayed committed to her animated vision. She started with the shearling – a sheep hide sewn to the bottom of a saddle, usually cream colored, to pad the back of the horse along with a blanket. Rather than leaving the color natural, she dyed the wool magenta.
McCluey ideated for months, drawing out numerous designs for the saddle that would express her love of women, collaboration and color.
“I really did a lot of pink because I wanted it to be very feminine,” said McCluey.
She mapped out pink and white flowers to be tooled on the seat, cantel, skirt and fenders of the saddle.
“For my tooling and my tooling pattern, I just wanted it to reflect the women who've shaped me,” she said. “So all my flowers, each one represents a woman in my life.”
Strings of pearls lace the saddle edges, representing wisdom she collected from each influencer. On the saddle’s jockey seat, a tooled and hand-painted antique metal watering can pours pearls over the flowers and onto the stirrup leathers.
McCluey invited other female makers to help her design and build an entire gear collection that matched her pink saddle vision. Gloria Michelle spun and twisted a horsehair Mecate and Michelle’s mother, Helen Dougal, twisted a horsehair cinch. Susan Adams cast a sterling silver horn cap and conchos, Diane Myers made a pulled wool saddle pad and Justine Nelson-Graham braided a rawhide bosal with a pink latigo hanger.
“I always have a story,” explained McCluey. “It comes from deep. It comes from the heart and I dream it.”
It took her a year to complete the complicated and demanding project. She finished the saddle with the help of Meridian saddle maker Rick Bean, who advised her on finalizing the saddle layout. He guided McCluey as she cut each part and pieced the saddle together. The end design also incorporated blooming cactus, which she said represent the harder lessons of life.
“Some lessons were pokey and sharp and others were smooth,” McCluey said.
With so much intention imparted on the intricately-tooled saddle and accessories, they are not destined for a working life. Instead, they will be displayed at the Mitchell Museum of Western Arts in Colorado.
“I'm always shooting for beyond the stars,” said McCluey. “I think people can feel and see meaning and feeling.”
Expressive Idaho is produced by Arlie Sommer and edited by Sáša Woodruff. Original music in this story is by Jared Arave. The written article is by Arlie Sommer and edited by Corinne Ruff, Lacey Daley and Katie Kloppenburg. A transcript of the audio version of this story is available.
Expressive Idaho is made in partnership with the Idaho Commission on the Arts’ Folk and Traditional Arts Program with funding support from Dr. Suzanne Allen, MD, Jennifer Dickey and Andy Huang. This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.