Beyoncé and the rediscovery of cowboy hats: The Hat Willing One

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Superstar Beyoncé at New York Fashion Week in mid-February: accessory from the days of Buffalo Bill

Photo: James Devaney / GC Images / Getty Images

Would anyone have expected that Beyoncé, one of today's biggest pop stars, would retrain as a country singer?

Currently, "Queen B" is setting one record after another with her song "Texas Hold'Em", rocketing from number one in the country charts to the top of the Hot 100 and being played up and down on traditionally conservative US radio played.

Who would have guessed that?

Maybe those people who are concerned with style.

Beyoncé has been flirting with the fashion scene for years, occasionally donning cowboy hats, which are also popular with representatives of this popular style of music.

Most recently, she made this Wild West accessory – preferably a Stetson – her identification and national emblem.

She appeared with it at the Grammy Awards and at New York Fashion Week.

She receives more than three million likes on her Instagram page for corresponding photos.

“Queen B” becomes “Cowgirl B,” is how they ennoble her in the comments.

Brilliant reinterpretation

What's lost in all the excitement is that the native Texan is also making a socio-political statement with her fashion statement.

A cowboy hat is more than just headgear, it is a symbolically charged part of American iconography.

Apparently Beyoncé doesn't just want to leave the accessory from the Buffalo Bill days to those who would expect it anyway.

For example, with fans of ex-country singer Taylor Swift.

With the cowboy actor and hobby musician Kevin Costner.

Or with Trump supporters sitting in pickup trucks.

“Queen B”, the brilliant semiotician, has been reinterpreting something for some time now.

With her, the attribute of the old America becomes a symbol of a different, better America; it can glitter or look like haute couture.

The style-conscious part of the nation follows it; the fashion trend is called “Cowboy Core”.

When fellow musician and designer Pharrell Williams incorporated cowboy chic into his collection for Louis Vuitton and recently appeared in Paris wearing a Stetson, it seemed like an exclamation point on their mission.

And a continuation of the country interpretation with which the black rapper Lil Nas X attracted attention a few years ago.

The message is clear: everyone can make an old hat their own.

The history of cowboys and cowboys doesn't just belong to white people.