19 of the Best Perfumes to Try If You’re Entering Your Cowboy Carter Era Like I Am

Gen Z Says is a bimonthly column chronicling the latest trends in the fashion-and-beauty space through the lens of Who What Wear’s own Gen Z editors. Expect a download on the upcoming class of tastemakers, emerging designers, and shopping and style choices straight from the generation setting the trends.

Growing up, I spent a lot of time with both sets of grandparents (especially over the long, hot, sticky Southern summers). There were several afternoons I remember complaining about having to sit in silence while my maternal grandfather watched hours upon hours of old Westerns starring the likes of John Wayne, Gary Cooper, and Lee Van Cleef. After my papa’s passing in 2015, I became reminded of him every time I saw a spaghetti Western flash across a screen. It brought me brought back to the hours I got to spend in his company well into his 80s.

Now, whenever I hear the theme song to Rawhide, I’m brought right back to that living room with iced tea, butterscotch candies, and lone rangers riding into the sunset on repeat. With all that being said, however, the Wild West wasn’t without its monumental issues. It doesn’t take a historian to learn about the violence, prejudice, and colonization that ran rampant under the pretense of discovering “untamed” land. And yet, the very idea of the Wild West and the cowboys who were part of the Western expansion is, in itself, something heavily ingrained in American psyche.

So when Beyoncé released her album Cowboy Carter last spring, I felt seen as a Black woman who has always had a complicated relationship with history and happens to have grown up in the West. I’m beyond excited that different versions of Western icons are being embraced that challenge our preconceptions. As an ode to my renewed admiration for all things Western-inspired and to celebrate the kickoff of the Cowboy Carter tour, I’m rounding up the 19 best fragrances that make me want to pull on my boots and spend and exorbitant amount of money on a cowboy hat.

The Best Western-Coded Fragrances