Mountain Glam: How to Dress Like a Park City Mom | Tricia P.

I get asked some version of this question almost weekly: what do you actually wear here? It comes from friends visiting from Nashville, from new arrivals to Park City who feel out of step in the Whole Foods parking lot, from the occasional reader who's seen me at a school event and wondered if I dressed up on purpose. I did not dress up. This is just how I dress.

So here is my fashion thesis, twenty-plus years into being a Park City mom: Modern Western base, mountain-functional layers, a quiet hint of Southern. That's it. That's the formula. The Modern Western part is the spine. The mountain-functional part keeps you alive in February. The Southern part is the residue of growing up in Nashville and refusing to let it go. What I'm not doing is the yoga-mom Aspen-puffer thing, which is fine on other people but is not the look here.

western style fashion — Modern Western on a Wednesday. Boots, a felt hat, a denim jacket that costs more than it should.

The boots

Boots are the foundation. If you get the boots right, the rest of the outfit gets easier. My rotation:

Lucchese. The grown-up Western boot. I have two pairs of Luccheses — a chocolate goat in a classic roper, and a black calfskin in a slightly taller shaft — and I have worn them so much that the soles have been replaced twice. These are not costume boots. They are work boots that happen to be beautiful.
Tecovas. The newer, more-accessible Western boot. I own three pairs. The bone full-quill ostrich is the one I wear with denim and a turtleneck about forty days a year. Tecovas hits the right Modern Western note — clean lines, less ornament than vintage Western, made for the way we actually live.
Sorel and Aquatalia for snow. Functional, not Western, but good-looking. The Sorel Joan of Arctic in a Modern Western outfit reads more interesting than the cliche Bogs.
One pair of riding boots, in heavy rotation when I'm at the NAC barn. Ariat Heritage. Unkillable.

felt cowboy hat woman — The hat does the heavy lifting. Pick yours carefully.

The denim

I have strong opinions about denim. I've been doing this since I was an early-thirties Nashville transplant who didn't realize Park City would not look at me funny for wearing dark denim every day:

Mother. The high-waisted straight leg is my workhorse. I have it in three washes.
Citizens of Humanity. Slightly more grown-up. The cropped wide-leg is excellent under a long coat.
Re/Done. When I want a vintage-feel high-rise. Not for everyday — these are statement jeans.
One pair of Wrangler 14MWZ for actual barn days. Western traditionalist. I am not above this.

Park City Main Street fashion — Main Street uniform: hat, boots, layers, an actual coat in winter. No fleece-pullover-and-leggings here.

The shearling jacket

The single most-mountain-Modern-Western item in my closet is a long shearling coat, suede outside, lambs-wool inside, in a rich camel. I bought it in Aspen years ago and it has been worn so often that the cuffs are softening. Shearling is the right outerwear in Park City when it is not actually snowing — for parking-lot to dinner, for Main Street, for the December gift-shopping run. A puffer is for skiing. A shearling is for life.

If a long shearling is too dramatic, a shorter shearling-collared denim or canvas jacket — Madewell makes a respectable one, Frame makes a better one — is a softer entry point.

The turtleneck under the vintage Pendleton

This is the layer combination I wear from October to April:

A fine merino turtleneck in cream, camel, charcoal, or chocolate (I get mine from Naadam, J.Crew on a good year, or sometimes the Theory outlet at Kimball Junction — see my outlet post).
A vintage Pendleton wool shirt or a vintage Pendleton blanket cardigan over it. I source these on eBay and at the Round Top antique fairs in Texas (yes, I go).
Denim, Lucchese boots, hat, done.

This is the outfit. If I have nothing else figured out and I have to leave the house in twenty minutes, this is the outfit.

mountain apres style — Apres-ski is where mountain glam earns its name. Cashmere, suede, a glass of Whispering Angel.

Where I shop in PC

I have a separate post on the Main Street boutique crawl, but the short list:

Burns Cowboy Shop for boots and the more traditional Western pieces.
Kemo Sabe for hats (also a separate post — please go read it).
Olive & Tweed for jewelry — turquoise, sterling, leather wraps.
Cake Boutique for the more contemporary mom-fashion pieces — denim, tops, the surprisingly good winter dresses.
Park City Clothing Co. for the locally-souvenir items that don't read tourist (the heathered sweatshirts are excellent).

modern closet interior — Get-ready closets in Promontory homes are an event. Mine is not, but the aesthetic is.

Where I shop online

Tecovas direct.
Mother and Citizens of Humanity direct or via the Theory outlet.
Free People for the more boho-leaning Modern Western pieces (selective — about 10% of what's on the site).
Eras and the occasional Sundance catalog (the catalog brand).
Etsy for the hat bands and the occasional vintage concho belt.

What I am not doing

To be clear: I am not doing the head-to-toe Aspen-puffer-and-Moncler-beanie look. I am not doing the costume-Western fringe-everything look. I am not doing the athleisure look that is, frankly, the dominant uniform at Whole Foods on a Tuesday. None of those are wrong on other people. They are just not what works for me.

Modern Western is a discipline. It's restraint. The right boots, the right denim, one Western piece, one mountain piece, one hat. Done.

The trick to Park City dressing, in the end, is to dress like you live here, not like you're visiting. Twenty years in, I'm still working on it. The hats help.