The Cowboy Way
TK Smith sporting the Oklahoma Cowboys brand
Photograph by Jakian Parks
Jakian Parks shares Oklahoma fashion, culture and history with the world.
Jakian Parks couldn’t resonate with what he was looking at. Even though he intellectually knew where he was and what he was doing there, the Oklahoma City native was unable to wrap his mind around the situation fully.
At the age of 22, Parks had just taken his first-ever international flight and was standing in the heart of Paris, France, as he prepared for what would essentially be the introduction of his brand, Oklahoma Cowboys, to the world.
“I couldn’t believe what I was walking into. We were walking and they were still putting everything up and they were putting up signs and laying out the red carpet and all that stuff,” Parks says. “It was just, ‘This is the real deal. I’m walking into the real deal.’”
What Parks had walked into was Paris Fashion Week, the most prestigious and trend-setting fashion show in the world. He and his team were asked to be part of the Louis Vuitton Men’s Fall-Winter 2024 Show, which took place at the Jardin d’Acclimatation on Jan. 16.
Music producer and Louis Vuitton Men’s Creative Director Pharrell Williams (“Happy,” “Beautiful”) designed the collection, which is described thus: “Evoking the iconography of the American Western wardrobe, cowboy-inspired silhouettes and workwear details are imbued with the Maison’s heritage signatures. Punctuated by quintessential adornments and refined materials, iconic bags and accessories exude nuanced style codes of the frontier.”
Because of that theme, Williams wanted an authentic look for his runway models. That’s where Parks and his cowboys came into the picture.
Oklahoma Cowboys is a non-profit organization that raises awareness and celebrates the significant role of Black cowboys and cowgirls in Oklahoma’s equestrian heritage. Through social media, Parks has put the lives of real cowboys in Oklahoma out into the world for people to see and marvel at.
Unbeknownst to Parks, Oklahoma Cowboys had gained a following that stretched well beyond the state’s borders.
“A representative from Louis Vuitton (Calvin Wilson) reached out to Nerissa Morgan, my public relations manager. I didn’t believe it at first. I thought the email was fake at first, but it had too many details,” Parks says. “The people who reached out were the modeling talent agency (Establishment New York) in New York City. Calvin reached out in regard to the Cowboys modeling Louis Vuitton in Paris.”
A model walks the runway at Paris Fashion Week
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
It took some time for all the particulars to be finalized. Parks wasn’t even sure the trip was going to take place until two days before the show; that was when the plane tickets to Paris were booked. Up until that point, Parks had kept the show a secret. Other than close family and members of his team, he didn’t want to even talk in case it fell through.
“When it actually hit is when we were sitting down in rehearsal and I was watching the guys go around and around,” Parks says. “I was like, ‘Man, I can’t believe this right now.’ I almost started crying. It was just unreal. I never would’ve thought that Louis Vuitton would’ve hit me up about Oklahoma Cowboys, or just anybody would highlight Oklahoma Cowboys on that type of aspect.”
The show went off without a hitch. In front of 1,200 guests that included actor Bradley Cooper, the rapper Lil Yachty and the K-pop band Riize, Parks said the Oklahoma Cowboys (Ronnie Davis, Taylor Williams) performed like seasoned catwalk veterans. Wearing pieces like rodeo-ready denim jeans and showcasing a $1 million Speedy Bag, they owned the runway with confidence.
The Oklahoma Cowboys were the only non-professional models at the show, but their addition gave Williams the authenticity he had been looking to display.
“When you see cowboys portrayed, you see only a few versions. You never really get to see what some of the original cowboys looked like. They looked like us, they looked like me. They looked Black. They looked Native American,” Williams said after the show. “We’re expressing ourselves from a place of love, no judgment. Just think about telling your story and telling your people’s story as best you can and doing it candidly and with love — that’s the overwhelming feeling.”
TK Smith
SADDLING UP
To understand how Parks and the Oklahoma Cowboys ended up in the fashion capital of the world, it takes going back to his childhood when he was hanging out with his aunt, Shay Nolan.
“Growing up as a young kid, I went to the rodeos with my Aunt Shay. I went to the rodeos all through the summer hanging out with her, and I was like a rodeo son. I grew up going to the rodeos with her and stuff like that. She’s the first one who bought me my first pair of cowboy boots, the first one to get me on a horse. Just all the little cowboy stuff that you would think about in a rodeo aspect. I did all that with her.”
Black rodeos were an ever-present part of Parks’ youth. He and Nolan traveled throughout the state to small, predominantly Black towns where the rodeo culture was still prevalent. Even after they stopped, Parks’ passion for the rodeo and the Black cowboy culture was undimmed.
“I really missed going to the rodeo,” Parks says. “I would beg her and beg her to take me to another rodeo. But she got sick. She went into the hospital in late 2017. She was in the hospital throughout all of 2018, and she passed away on May 1, 2019.”
Parks could have easily used Nolan’s death as a reason to never go to the rodeo again. To avoid the memories he shared with her on those hot Oklahoma days in the middle of the summer in towns like Boley and Okmulgee.
Instead, Parks did the opposite.
Photograph by Jakian Parks
SHARING THE STORY
“I was in my creative path of photography, and I was getting into what I really wanted to do — highlight Black people and the Black culture here in Oklahoma,” Parks says. “So, in about 2021 I went to a rodeo at Wild Horse and I was sitting there and I had my camera. I’m like, ‘I need to do a project about this culture that I miss getting out here.’ I did a project called the Rodeo Record. And it was in honor of my Aunt Shay. It was a photo series about the Black cowboys in Oklahoma.”
However, the longer Parks hung out at the rodeos and saw what took place behind the scenes, the more clearly he saw he had more on his hands than a photo project. What Parks saw was a community that no one outside of it knew about. He kept asking himself why no one was highlighting it.
“Everybody should know about Black cowboys in this aspect in Oklahoma,” Parks says. “Like the Black cowboys in Oklahoma. Nobody knew. I’m talking about the world. Why does everybody not know about the Black cowboys here in Oklahoma? It just shocked me.”
Parks decided he needed to become their chronicler and show the rest of the world what they were missing. That was where the concept of Oklahoma Cowboys was born.
But even then, Parks had no real plan. While he had done other forays into photography and had a strong interest in fashion, he had no idea what he needed to do next.
“I didn’t know what exactly I was going to do. I just knew I was just going to keep doing what I do. I was going to do photos and that Rodeo Record project,” Parks says. “That’s what I was going to continue to do with Oklahoma Cowboys photo series, highlighting all the cowboys at the rodeos and doing interviews with the cowboys. The content was going to go on social media. That’s the only way that I knew at that point. Even today, it still is on social media.”
Parks began posting his photos and videos on his Instagram account and then created an account for Oklahoma Cowboys. It is filled with photos and videos of young Black men and women competing at rodeos, working at stables or even just showing off their style in brightly colored Western shirts and traditional cowboy hats.
Parks wanted to show every aspect of the cowboys’ lives. And because he was fascinated with it, he couldn’t understand why it wasn’t more in the mainstream.
“This is a whole lifetime for them. This isn’t just a season. I feel like most of the cowboys in Oklahoma, they only compete in a season, but the whole cowboy lifestyle for them is a year-round thing,” Parks says. “When it’s cold outside, they’re out there breaking ice and freezing their hands, and they have to still tend to their horses. I have witnessed that.”
Just as important was putting history under a microscope. To let people know that when history books talk about taming the West, they are referring to the legacy of Black cowboys.
“My goal was to get this out there and also highlight the history aspect of where this all came from too,” Parks says. “That was my biggest goal. Talking to some of the older people to let the world know that this is something that isn’t overnight. This has been here.”
ON THE RISE
It wasn’t until May 30, 2023, that the first piece of Oklahoma Cowboys gear made an appearance on Parks’ social media accounts. It was a black, long-sleeved hoodie with “Oklahoma Cowboy” written across the chest in a Western font. It was sleek, simple and bold, and quickly sold out.
“I didn’t start going with Oklahoma Cowboys until I had a logo,” Parks says. “I wasn’t going to put it out there on a social media aspect until I had a vision of what I really wanted to do.”
That same year Parks was contacted by Louis Vuitton and Timberland Boots. While LV wanted to fly the Oklahoma Cowboys out to Paris, Timberland had other ideas.
“Timberland reached out in the middle of last year. We did a campaign with them; it was a time crunch because they needed it done before the end of the year. The project was for Black History Month, which was launched January 25 and then it’s going to be for February. They did a boot in honor of Black History Month. And so the Cowboys and a few others modeled the boot. Timberland and their team had brought down some people and did the campaign.”
The Timberland project was shot in Oklahoma in towns like Jones and Wynnewood. But it will be part of the brand’s national campaign, which will put an even bigger spotlight on the Oklahoma Cowboys.
What started as a personal undertaking to the culture of Black cowboys has turned into a venture that Parks knows his aunt would be proud of, and that his home state will benefit from.
“The fashion show and the Timberland campaign will take Oklahoma Cowboy to a level that I never would’ve thought,” Parks says. “To a big level, something that Oklahoma never has seen before. Being from Oklahoma, we have never had any big brands highlight any type of culture down here, especially Black culture. No campaign highlighting a community, a culture or anything that we have going on down in Oklahoma. It means a lot and it’s huge, especially for Oklahoma.” •
An Exclusive Luxiere Interview: Taylor Williams
Out of all the runway models that were on display at the 2024 Louis Vuitton Winter Fashion Show, none had the same visual impact that Taylor Williams produced. Decked out in a bright red leather jacket and chaps, a beige cowboy hat, designer boots and sunglasses, the 23-year-old could not be missed.
But it wasn’t just what Williams had on that made him a hit during Paris Fashion Week. It was what he and the other Oklahoma Cowboys were able to bring to the show that no one else in Paris could at the time.
“They wanted real cowboys,” Williams says. “We were the only three real cowboys there. For us to represent the whole cowboy community, white and Black, as a whole, it meant a lot. Everybody else was just models, but us three, we were the only three that actually rodeoed.”
Williams is a real-life Black cowboy, and the Oklahoma City native has been a part of the cowboy culture his entire life. He comes from a line of men who have worked on ranches and competed in rodeos.
“My grandpa started Pony Express,” Williams says of the rodeo event that is starting to gain popularity. “He’s the one who actually invented Pony Express; he started it back in 1990. Then my dad started doing it. It means a lot to see how big it’s growing, how much people like the sport.”
Williams was barely in his 20s when he began working with Jakian Parks, the founder of Oklahoma Cowboys.
“Nobody has really shined a light on the cowboy world like that before,” Williams says. “But him taking pictures and broadcasting this on Instagram … it took it to another level so people outside of Oklahoma can see what we actually do. This Black cowboy thing, it’s pretty much just like an Oklahoma-type deal. It is not like a worldwide type of thing. So when he started doing that, it just brought in more people looking and got more followers. They wanted to see what we were doing.”
While he wants to expand his modeling career, he has no plans to give up the cowboy life.
“I’m a cowboy at heart, but I want to model too,” Williams says. “I can do both at the same time because that modeling is pretty cool. You just wake up and rehearse and let them take pictures that you get paid for. I can do both. I can definitely model in the States and be a cowboy at the same time.”
Photograph by Jakian Parks
An Exclusive Luxiere Interview: Darrion Bogus
Darrion Bogus knows his history; especially his Oklahoma cowboy history. So when Jakian Parks came to him one day about joining the Oklahoma Cowboys, what won the 29-year-old father over was the attention being paid to an almost forgotten culture in Oklahoma—the Black cowboy.
“We’ve been out here in Spencer doing it for a long time,” Bogus says. “And it’s the first time we just got some exposure and let the world see what we do.”
The culture Bogus is referring to is not celebrated on the big screen or even in history classes. Despite the fact it is still living and breathing throughout the state, it hasn’t been until recently that most people have become aware of it.
Bogus said the Oklahoma Cowboys have had a big influence on that.
“I don’t know why it took so long,” Bogus says. “Really, we’ve been out here getting to it every day. That’s what we do. It’s our lifestyle now. Even off the camera, we do this every day, seven days a week. Ain’t no off days.”
Bogus said he was born into the cowboy life, and along with training race horses, he is part of the Oklahoma Cowboys Pony Express rodeo team. So most of his day is spent working with horses in some capacity.
“Now we look at it as horsemen,” Bogus says. “We all ride horses. We all take care of our animals and it’s a great feeling and we love it. This is my lifestyle. I do this every day, man. I ride horses every day, all day long. Get on about 20, 30 horses a day.”
While Bogus didn’t make the trip to Europe to be part of the Louis Vuitton Fashion Show, he knew what that opportunity meant for his fellow cowboys.
“I was excited. It was nice to know that we can get out there like that,” Bogus says. “Oklahomans going all the way to Paris. Getting on the mat, especially with a big company like Louis Vuitton and Pharrell Williams. That was nice.”