Post by TM

Long boots, short boots, low boots, high boots, boots, boots, BOOTS! I love them all. Yes, boots are consistently my  favourite type of footwear. I know the spectrum is wide but the sheer variety is what makes The Boot great.

I have mentioned my trusty high-heeled, tan coloured pair of boots before, which will be making their forth or fifth come-back this autumn. I can’t wait to wear them in the 70s style this year, under longish skirts, with a polo-neck and a fedora.

I have also mentioned my old docs and taste for grungy boots styled the ’90s way. I have a pair of workman boots I bought last summer (to replace a pair I bought two years before that) and still wear. In the coming months I will be styling them á la Angela Chase and the girls from Beverly Hills 90210.

I might ease off on the white socks though

So, yeah, I am a teeny, tiny, little bit obsessed but it doesn’t matter, it’s a healthy obsession. It’s not like I’m stalking Kate Moss’s thigh high leather numbers. Or Sienna Miller’s Chelseas. Or Miranda Kerr’s Isabel Marants…

There is reason upon reason why boots are the best – here’s my Top 5.

1. They toughen up an outfit

You want to look pretty but you want to fit in at the hippest dive in town. Easy answer to your sartorial dilemma – wear a pair of boots. You can go with a number of options here, workman boots, Docs or Chelsea, just keep ’em flat and water-proof if possible. You will want to be comfortable when you’re waiting at the bar, and you won’t want to mind when a pitcher of beer gets spilled all over them.

2. They sex up an outfit

You want to wear your skinny jeans with your slouchy top for the umpteenth time but you don’t want to wear heels – that’s kind of mid-2000s – and you feel like dressing up. What a conundrum – it isn’t. Boots are your answer! Those of you who are long of limb can certainly get away with boots of the flat variety but I would recommend boots with a high, albeit chunky (you don’t want to go all Kim K or Pussycat Doll on it) heel.

3. No more sock problems

Unless you make like Kelly Taylor and Donna Martin (or some of the teeny-boppers I’ve seen scampering around, probably dressed in their mothers’ throwbacks) you won’t need to worry about wearing matching socks. So you can pack your nicely rolled up sock pairs off to their winter holidays and dip into the odd sock drawer.

Tucked into the left boot was a pink sock with a sheep print, in the right she wore a pop-sock

4. Frostbite be gone!

I tried to wear my tough old boots in summer with a pretty summer dress on the hottest day of the year and while it did look nice and 90s, my feet did not thank me for it. Sure, they were safe and sound from the slope of a heel but well, they were just a little bit…slippy. That’s not a problem in A/W though, no siree. In fact, it’s a bloody godsend. As I previously pointed out, socks are a non-issue with boots so don your woolliest pair and you tootsies will be foot-loose (hee hee) and fancy-free all through the dark days and nights.

5. Best leg forward

Boots are, above all else, really flattering. A low heeled-ankle boot with a skinny jean is often the key to a chic outfit, with leg-lengthening benefits. Over the knee boots, as seen on stylist Geraldine Saglio seen with Emmanual Alt  – who is also rocking ankle length fancies – above, do wonders for a simple jeans and tee outfit and they extend the length of your leg. Boyish boots, strangely, make legs look feminine.

 Boots are the best. As soon as this Indian Summer frigs off put every single one of your other kind of shoes in storage until spring and put your best boot forward!