STREET SCENE : Urban Cowgirls Buckle Up

Cher has been wearing chaps for so many years now she can’t remember when it all began.

That “they’re sexy� is all she knows for sure. Cowboys, of course, have been wearing them even longer.

They buckle a pair of suede or leather chaps over their blue jeans before they saddle up, to protect themselves from nasty weather, mean horses and hard falls.

Now the chaps-and-denim-look is lassoing the hearts of some flamboyant urban cowgirls. Along Melrose Avenue and Sunset Boulevard, the bold and well-built are turning heads with their suede or leather cowgirl--or showgirl--variations.

Some like them fringed, worn over tight black jeans. Others go for pale deerskin chaps over blue jeans.

“They look great on everyone,� Cher concedes, not just her. “It’s an American thing, the bad-boy cowboy look for rebellious girls to wear.�

Most of Cher’s chaps are made by Chrome Hearts of Los Angeles.

Richard Stark, John Bowman and Leonard Kamhout design the custom-made collections carried only at Maxfield in West Hollywood.

Theirs feature handcrafted silver buckles, silver studs, chains or hand-stitching. Prices start at $1,750.

Los Angeles designer Katherine Baumann of K. Baumann added chaps to her leather collections two years ago.

She uses suede, leather or deerskin and sometimes adds crystal studs. Prices start at $170 at Boogie’s Diner in the Westside Pavilion.

She says her customers include Ivana Trump, Morgan Fairchild, Melanie Griffith, Jane Fonda and actress Julie McCullough.

Not just the famous and the infamous, but all sorts of cowgirls are stepping into chaps for spring.

“They blow right out the door,� says Boogie’s store manager, Barbie Delisio. “We sell at least six pairs every week.�