Boot Your Way To Style

“[Women’s] footwear in the 1960s can be summed up in a single word: boots.” (The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Clothing Through American History, 1900 to the Present, 2008)

The fashion boot or more famously known as simply boots are put on for fashion and accentuating a woman’s outfit. Boots normally apply to women’s footwear. Stylish boots can range from ankle high, knee high or even up to thigh high in length and they can be worn for the purposes of informal, proper, and corporate settings.

During the 19^th Century, boots were considered as trendy women’s shoes but it was only in 1960s that they were accepted and given the appreciation as a high-end fashion. In the 1970s, the fame of the boots started to spread and it has lingered on as a trend in the wintry weather haute couture of women ever since.

“Boots not only look good, they feel good. How far and how fast can you walk in a pair of high-heeled pumps?” (Cheap Chic, 1975)

Ankle boots are the most common and universally used kind of boots and are generally sported with bootleg or skinny jeans, shorts, and leggings. Both men and women normally wear ankle boots and these are the single kind that has stayed in style all throughout the 19^th century.

Calf high boots are the type that reaches the shin part of the leg and fashion experts consider it as predominantly exigent to carry. This kind boots are more typically matched with pants that are a bit loose or with lengthy skirts that cover to upper portion of the shoes.

                Knee high boots, which just falls below the knee, are looked upon as the most versatile among the other kinds of stylish boots. They can be made from different materials like leather, suede or fabric, etc., and they can have a diverse choice of colors to choose from. These boots are frequently sported with a skirt or a dress, regardless of the length, beneath or over leggings or jeans.

                Thigh high boots or also called as cuissardes. Before these boots were accepted as women’s trendy footwear during the 1960s, men were the ones who initially wore them during the 16th – 18th Centuries for protection while traveling. Due to its connection with the sex industry, this sort of boots is perceived to be provoking and has erratic conventional approval as well. Even at its height of fame, a mixture of one or more elements like shorter heels, smooth-textured materials, not bright or intense shades, and prevention of revealing too much skin, which is possible by putting them over jeans, leggings or dense hose, was more often than not made use of to  shun the promiscuous and unconventional image it suggests.

“Shoes may be able to carry a woman around town, but showing off a pair of boots can be reason enough to leave the house.” (Bradley Quinn, The Boot, 2010)