A Word With Your Wardrobe: The trouble with buying boots

By Deanne Nguyen     1/21/10 6:00pm

Alongside my personal battle with the comforts of sweatpants and flip-flops, one of my top nemeses at Rice and around Houston is the weather. This is especially troublesome when it comes to seasons that really should exist, like winter. I once overhead someone describe Houston's seasons as "January and the rest of the year," which is pretty much spot on. The reason I'm bringing weather into the discussion is because over the years it has affected my acquisition of a certain closet staple: boots. For the longest time I owned none, not even rain boots - though that, in retrospect, may have been a poor life choice.

Regardless, it seemed sensible: Houston winters pale in comparison to those places where leaves change and snow exists for more than a day. The remainder of the year does not require so much insulation as it does sandals, flats and other sensible pairings with dresses, jeans and the like.

Furthermore, as several Northerner friends of mine have pointed out - especially in the context of snow and slush - "boots" aren't necessarily synonymous with "weatherproof." So why should I purchase an item which would only function within a window of 30 days or so, if that?

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Because boots, quite frankly, look fabulous. There's simply no getting around it. Once that is understood, it becomes a question of which style to buy. It is important, when buying footwear, to already possess clothing that just needs a bit of a boot boost, as opposed to buying more clothes to suit the shoe. The matter of embellishments and heel height may fall more under stylistic preference, however, and the length of the boot shaft itself is the limiting factor in terms of wardrobe application.

Boots are as varied as the distinct signs of winter that Houston lacks. Disregarding the awkwardness of the term "bootie," that is pretty much what an ankle boot is: one that covers or hits right below the ankle. Their selling point is that they mimic the feel and look of any other boot without the added bulk. This makes it easier for them to be adorned with hardware or other fun boot-related details, maybe even more than what a normal boot is used to. My only beef with these is that, although they work so well with all pant styles, since they essentially cut the wearer off at the ankles, this makes playing with proportions of skirts difficult and could easily venture into "cankle" territory.

Rising up the leg chain, mid-calf to knee-high boots are literally the ideal lovers of your legs. They can be friends with nearly any item of any length in your wardrobe, not to mention their abundance of diverse styles, from biker to cowboy. Their shortcoming is an unfortunate one, though no fault of their own; rather, the fault lies with the manufacturers. The best and most popular look at this height of boot is a slim-fitted one and frustratingly, some brands just don't understand that not all calves were created equal.

Beyond the safe zone of one's kneecaps, there is the matter of the over-the-knee boots. For the fashion followers out there, thigh-high boots have been incredibly trendy since last fall, and they are by far the trickiest to translate into daily wear, since they are often infamously associated with ladies of the night. They also challenge the wearer's body image, as they are definite leg enhancers. In other words, they are not forgiving in the least bit.

Boots, in the fashion sense, are anything but practical. And we haven't even talked about variations in material - suede being the classiest option, by far, though requiring too much maintenance. But it's not really about practicality - it's about the thrill of chasing an image boots can give. Fashionistas may want to go ahead and buy one of each kind, just to be sure they've got their bases covered.

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