Western Canadiana: The Story of Darn Yonder

During the 1950s, iconic tailor to the stars Nudie Cohn ushered in an era of high fashion that would impact country music and Western wear forever. Casual wear was set aside for high-end suits with decorative embroidery, wild patterns, and, of course, rhinestones. These legendary designs were born by Cohn, and worn by the likes of Gram Parsons, Hank Williams, and Dolly Parton.

While these stunning outfits may shine on stage, they might turn some heads if worn as day-to-day attire. Is there a way to harness the essence of iconic Western designs to make it palatable for a contemporary audience?

Enter: Darn Yonder Garment Company.

Darn Yonder is a small clothing company based out of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and is owned and operated by Jen Boyne and Trish Forbes. This formidable alliance aims to transform vintage treasures into one-of-a-kind Western and Canadiana inspired wear. Utilizing classic Western embellishments, Darn Yonder strives to make their pieces palatable to a modern audience while making them look equal parts stunning and charming in the process.

Canadian country musicians Willie Stratton and Sara Johnston wear Darn Yonder pieces at Bearly's House of Blues and Ribs in Halifax.

The clarity of roles within Darn Yonder is perhaps the company’s greatest strength. Forbes acquires the vintage clothing as the base material for the piece, and Boyne creates and applies the designs.

Jen Boyne is a seamstress by trade, who designs and builds custom attire that have been sold to clients across the world. The process of creating a custom outfit, from conception to completion, is an incredibly time-consuming process, resulting in a high price point for her products. Because of the investment from both Boyne and the client, a considerable amount of communication is required through the piece’s construction to make sure it suits the client’s needs. While the final product is a rich piece of material, the process of manufacturing it can, at times, be very challenging.

Trish Forbes sells and collects vintage clothing with a specific focus on Western and men’s attire. “A lot of vintage clothing sellers don’t really focus on men’s wear,” says Forbes. The interest in buying and selling vintage clothing came from her personal interest in thrift shopping. Many times, when shopping for herself and her family, she would purchase items that stood out to her. Overtime, this amassed to quite the collection of materials, which lead to lead her to begin selling them. A challenge that Forbes continually faced was finding garments that were fine in material, but somewhat plain or stark in overall complexion.

Boyne and Forbes had been aware of each other’s work for quite some time and became friends through a shared love of music. With a mutual understanding of the challenges they each faced with their respective businesses, they soon realized they might be the answer to each other’s problems. This past year, they decided to combine their strengths to help their products reach a broader market, while creating superb pieces of Western wear. With Forbes responsible for acquiring the garments, and Boyne designing the Western embellishments, the product line of Darn Yonder was born. This strategy allows for their pieces to be sold at a lower price point, using ethically sourced materials, while giving otherwise drab articles of clothing a unique Western flair.

“I’m a terrible vintage shopper,” laughs Boyne. “(Forbes) comes out of these stores with the most incredible stuff that I drool over. It’s been a great combo of my work and her thrifting talents . . . she finds the greatest stuff. I don’t know how she finds what she finds. It’s an art, and she has mastered it.”

As Forbes is busy collecting items from thrift stores, this gives Boyne time to research styles and aesthetics from the 1940s, 50s, and 60s to come up with more designs. From there, the pair meet and review Forbes collections and Boyne’s designs to determine what will be their next pieces for the Darn Yonder collection.

Another strategy Darn Yonder applies to their work is the inclusion of ‘Canadiana.’ Instead of just cactus and desert imagery, Darn Yonder also incorporates moose and canoes, as well as natural landscapes, into their design themes to give the pieces a distinct ‘Canadiana’ Western aesthetic. Thus far, the response has been positive from their clients and fan base, and the team attributes their success to the lack of men’s wear that offers what Darn Yonder provides.

“I think people have fun with them,” says Boyne, aware of the balance of class and camp in their products. “Some people laugh and say ‘Look! My shirt has pine trees on them!’”

“I haven’t seen anything around here of anyone doing anything like this,” says Forbes, aware that their product offers something unique and different to men’s wear, which could be a credit to their positive response.

One of the pair’s favourite parts of Darn Yonder is that products have an inherent one-of-a-kind quality. Even if one of Boyne’s designs happens to be repeated, it will still be a distinct, original piece by virtue of it being on another vintage garment provided by Boyne. A goal for the pair is to build up a collection of vintage clothes and design options so that customers can choose which design is placed on which garment, allowing the customer to have an investment in the creation of their one-of-a-kind Darn Yonder product.

The Western style of clothing is both bold and classy, but not necessarily a style that is universally embraced by a contemporary audience. Boyne’s initial foray into Western design was when her friend Willie Stratton, a Halifax based country musician, continually asked her to build him a suit. Once Boyne began the process, she was hooked. “I remember saying to him “people actually wear this stuff? Like, is it a trend?” And he said “Jen, no. It’s not a trend. It’s not new. You’re new to it.” The more I’m involved and the deeper I get into this lovely amazing world of old school country, it’s very clear that it’s not new. It’s not trendy, it’s not going away.”

Darn Yonder operates through social media. For more information about their product line, visit their Instagram account @darnyonder.
Also check out Jen Boyne’s designs at @j.boynewesternwear and Trish Forbes’ vintage clothing at @secondhandsaloon.