This week (a week late! Sorry) I’m featuring sweet Shadee. I met Shadee through her fiancé, Crockett. She just struck me the moment I met her! She is sweet, genuine, fashionable & gorgeous. After harassing Crockett for a month or so, he was finally able to convince her to come help me in the office at the barn and I have SO enjoyed getting to know her. So, let’s learn a little more about Shadee Tye!
Shadee grew up in Plainview, Texas. She moved to central Texas 4 years ago when she chose to attend college at Tarleton State University in Stephenville. She is almost done with a degree in Animal Science. She will graduate this fall. She comes from ranching/farming/rodeo families on both sides. Her entire life has been centered around the western lifestyle and everything it entails. Most of her days are spent working with her assistant trainer, Crockett, ha-ha…Not really, they work hand in hand training reined cowhorses, rope horses and just good old using ranch horses. Let me tell you, they make some of the best money can buy. Shadee is a fantastic horseman and the cowhorse showing is her jam. Crockett has even taken a liking to it and has started showing some himself, so I’m telling yall, if you need a horse in this field, they can hook you up or point you in the right direction for sure. Due to this passion of theirs, you can find them at a ranch rodeo or cowhorse show just about every weekend. When they aren’t on the road, or when Shadee isn’t in class, she has a sale horse photography business. People hire her to photograph the best attributes of their prospects or finished performance horses. It is her true passion, and she is so happy with the decision she made to take the plunge and start this side hustle. She did make me blush saying that all the above things aside, some of her favorite days are spent helping us at the sale barn (Lampasas Cattle Auction) and working alongside me in the office. Shadee is definitely a true asset to us as she can do pretty much any position at the barn. She has been everywhere from the back alongside Crockett sorting and bringing up cattle to the check in house tagging and writing up to sitting next to me in the office entering tickets, checking buyers out and answering the phone. She is just a true gem and I’m so glad she’s in my life!
All the feels and gushiness aside, let’s talk about her killer style, because trust me, she’s smokin! With their lifestyle, looking fashionable isn’t usually a top priority nor is it truly functional for day in and day out, so when they do make it to town, Shadee loves using clothes and accessories to express her personality and lifestyle. She typically finds drawn to pieces that are a bit funky or “out there.” She doesn’t feel there is necessarily one particular person who has influenced her style, but if she did have to pick just one, she would choose her mama! She is absolutely fabulous and Shadee, her mom, and her sister all have a similar style which totally pays off when they want to borrow clothes. Moving 6 hours away from them has definitely put a damper on the borrowing, but Shadee remains inspired by her sweet mama who always looks so cute and is never lacking in the jewels department. Shadee says her turquoise collection is to die for so I must one day make it to Plainview to check it out!! Growing up, she wanted to dress like a boy until about 8th grade, so to say this change excited her mother would be the understatement of the century! Shadee also draws inspiration from women of the past…. women from the 90’s, all the way back to the frontier days! She loves it all and incorporates a little bit from each era in her closet. This is truly one of my favorite things about Shadee’s style. To be as young as she is (23), she has an effortless way of combining current trends with timeless pieces and ALWAYS looks like a class act.
For staple pieces, Shadee can find specific pieces she’s looking for at Maverick’s Western Wear in the Ft. Worth Stockyards. Truthfully though, she says her favorite pieces don’t come from a trendy boutique, but from local antique or resale shops. She doesn’t go shopping as often as you would think, she actually tends to come across authentic pieces completely by accident. When she does go looking for everyday clothing though, some of her favorite spots are Silver Wings and The Buckin’ Buffalo, both located in Stephenville, Punchy Vaquera in Hico as well. She says, most of her closet probably comes from The Rusty Rose back in Plainview. She makes sure to stop by every time she makes a trip home and see what goodies they have in store for her! Another staple store she highly recommends is Tumbleweed Vintage Boots. You can take in a pair of old boots and swap him out for a new to you vintage pair! How cool is that?!
Shadee is not much of an online shopper, but when she does, one of her favorites would be Gypsy Bleu Boutique, which just so happens to be owned by her best friend, Riley. She also watches the happenings at Tin Rose Boutique, Redford Ranch Style and Shop Impressions for everyday style. One of her favorite jewelry spots will always be Heritage Style Native Jewelry.
When she’s putting an outfit together, of course she first considers the type of event she’s going to and the weather. For a ranch rodeo outing, she’ll reach for denim cut offs or capris and pair with a graphic tee or tank, throw on a vintage belt and some cute sandals or tennis shoes and finish it off with lighter jewelry because who wants to be wearing heavy jewelry when it’s hot and dusty?? For more of a formal event, she’ll start by grabbing a staple such as a blazer, jacket, vest or blouse, then she moves on to jeans and a fun-colored pair of boots to “funk it up.” Jewelry always comes last so she can look at the outfit and decide just how much she needs. If it’s a flashy top, she doesn’t want to take away from it by wearing a humongous squash blossom. Some classic staple pieces she feels will never go out of style include vintage fringe jackets, the super loud ones that most people would shy away from. She also says everyone needs a great pair of vintage, handmade boots. If you buy a pair from a name brand manufacturer, they will more than likely go out of style at some point, whereas buying from a true maker, they will hold their authentic and timeless look forever. Currently, there are so many different trends going on, but Shadee tried to stay away from anything too trendy. She doesn’t want to be wearing something everyone has. Since she typically avoids trends, it was hard for her to pick one she’s currently loving, but since I made her, she said she’s glad the simple looks are making a comeback. She feels simplicity can sometimes be more eye catching than an overly loud outfit. Lots of styles are being crossed right now and she loves that the cowgirl style is taking more of an edgy look. She loves incorporating some edge while remaining true to her inner classy cowgirl.
She brought 2 outfits to the shoot and for the first one, she went classy and elegant with a western flair which is her go to look for bigger events. She dressed up a simple pair of capris with cowhide heels and her all time favorite shawl. The fur on the cardigan makes it dressy, but it is actually very thin, so she’s able to wear it through fall and winter. She chose not to overdo the jewelry because she didn’t feel the outfit really needed it. Remember, she really loves the simple, effortless look. Her second outfit was based around a fabulous blazer she found at a thrift store. Everything about this blazer screams Shadee and her style. She loves things that most people would never dare to pick up. Incorporating a Native American influence on her everyday Texas cowgirl style will always be what she feels sums up her everyday style. With the blazer being so bold, she wore just a simple black dress underneath and paired some of her favorite everyday pieces with it. One of these would be her sombrero spoon necklace that describes her to a t. She was planning on rocking a vintage pair of black ML Leddy’s that Crockett bought her out of someone’s backseat at the TCR matched horse races last year. He has just as good, if not better, taste in boots. His collection is a whole other story, and I could actually probably do a whole blogpost on Crockett’s style as well! However, in true Shadee fashion, she was in a hurry out the door and left the boots behind! This look still turned out amazing though, because thanks to our super talented photographer, Lori Falcon, she encouraged Shadee to embrace the Native American influence and just rock the barefoot look which Shadee loved, and it turned out amazing!
I hope y’all have enjoyed learning about 3 of my favorite fashionistas! Each of the ladies I’ve featured inspires me in so many ways and I have loved introducing them to you!! Stay tuned for future posts on more of my favorite people!!