Tex mix: Eclectic Houston fuses space history, cowboy culture and art

"Every stitch is a unique strand in someone’s  character,” said Katie Monsen, owner of Magnolia Mercantile, a company specialising in fashioning custom cowboy hats for Houston’s annual Livestock Show and Rodeo. This line stuck with me while Katie literally threaded my identity into my very own Stetson with vintage matchboxes, branded initials, feathers and more. A few days later, after getting deep under the skin of Houston, I found her words were a fitting description of the city as a whole. 

Houston is used to reinventing itself, weaving its own history in many different ways. After starting life as a major port city thanks to its Gulf Coast location and extensive waterways (known as bayous), it then became immortalised around the world thanks to its “Houston, we have a problem” moment during the Apollo 13 mission in 1970. But with high-end hotels and premium experiences sprouting up over the past decade, Houston is pivoting once more – this time as a top destination for luxury travellers.