With apple-picking season flying by and Thanksgiving fast approaching, I brought out my cowboy boots for this month’s adventure on Bleecker Street. The weather was still so warm on the day of the shoot that I decided to pair the boots with flared black shorts and fishnet stockings. (Think Beyoncé at Coachella! Love this incredible concert film. Outstanding!!)

I scored these boots and the Western blingy belt at Lammle’s, a famous Western-wear chain in Calgary, Alberta, when I was there for the Calgary Stampede in 2016. I had just submitted my US Immigration application on July fourth of that year, and took a short contract in Calgary while I waited for the results. Some friends lived in Calgary and invited me to stay with them, and it just so happened that I arrived the week of the Stampede. My first day at the office, everyone was dressed in Western gear. I thought they just dressed that way every day! But they explained that it was Stampede week, and we had fun events like pancake breakfasts and parking-lot barbecues all week long.

Naturally I wanted to get in on the fun, so I went to Lammle’s and got the boots, a couple of flashy belts—which I wore criss-crossed gun-belt style over my jeans—and an Australian-style cowboy hat. I caused a bit of a stir around the office with my gunslinger flair. It was the most fun on-the-job week I’ve ever spent at a technical writing gig. (That’s what pays the bills, in case you were wondering.) So I’m happy that this moment from my old world has come forward into the future to intersect with my West Village lifestyle. Fiddler, strike up the music and let’s get to the hoedown!

For more fun photos, see connect @karensquirkystyle.

Gipsy by Mauritius vegetable-cured yellow leather jacket. All Leather 99/Master Leather, 51 W. 8th Street.

Black tank. Pink Penguin NYC, 110 Macdougal Street.

Express black flared shorts. Gift from a friend.

Grey distressed leather cowboy boots by Dan Post. Lammle’s Western Wear, Calgary.

Angel Ranch black gator-print crystal belt. Lammle’s Western Wear, Calgary.

Silver, black, and crystal bracelet. CVS, 475 Sixth Avenue.

Crystal drop earrings. Whole Bead Show NYC, Hotel Pennsylvania.

Rhinestone necklaces. Shopper’s Drug Mart, Vancouver, British Columbia.

This article first appeared in my Karen’s Quirky Style column in the WestView News.