Tiiiiim-bbbberrrr

When I think of Timberland I think of this

Or this

Or, god help me, this

And truly the best case scenario would be this. You know, grudgingly kind of cool, but definitely not for me.

But then I deeply appreciated a pair of boots worn by my lovely friend Helen Burnett  and blow me down with a feather if they weren't Timberlands.

Definitely, definitely desirable. Who would have thunk it?

(Images via Timberland)

Leather and Lace

Oh, I know, here I go banging on about my boot obsession again. And yes, I'm afraid you are quite right.

My lovely friend and loyal CONC reader Kirsty drew my attention to the pair of Clarks boots below and I have to say I really love them.

It is funny how you can go from fairly indifferent to rabidly excited at the click of a mouse, but it has now made me think of little other than lace up boots. In a fashion sense, at least. There are one or two other thoughts drifting around between the ears once in a while.

I was just reading an article about how the Steampunk look is forecast to become a major trend and I can definitely see the link with these be-laced boots. I had a pair of lace up boots when I was at school that had a distinctly Victorian school ma'am air about them. Boy do I wish that I had foreseen this moment and hung on to them because they are just what I want now.

I suppose that what they say is true, if you wait around long enough everything comes back into fashion. But if I hung onto everything I ever bought just in case I rather suspect my house would look like one of those lived in by an extreme hoarder. Or even more like one... and that just wouldn't do.

(Images via Clarks)

Fill Your Boots

It's a bit damp outside so I don't feel as though I am, ahem, raining on anyone's summer parade by talking about the autumn winter collections.

One of my first obsessions is the Celine boot. Aren't they heaven? Particularly the thigh high pairs. Although lord knows quite how tiny your thigh would have to be to fit into this luxury leather prison.

(Images via Style.com, Celine)

Shear and Present Danger

The Net a Porter 'New In' section is a strange beast right now. It is stuffed with items for summer holidays but then, alongside, I spied the first glimpse of the autumn winter collections.

Now normally that would upset me. Strike me as making an unnecessarily damning comment on the state of the summer. Suggesting that all hope is gone and we should bow to the inevitable that it is going to be a wash out. Yet again.

But I was drawn to these Isabel Marant shearling lined boots, and I looked outside to the cold, grey, wet day outside and I thought how very happy my feet would be snuggled up in them.

 (Images via Net a Porter)

A Little Bit of What You Fancy

Call me a cynic, but I find that if I want something I very rarely come by it. So when I decided that I wanted to find a down jacket that covered my bum and didn't make me look the size of a house I was sure that it was a quest destined for failure.

(Images via Comptoir des Cottoniers, Ecco)

And when I subsequently decided that I wanted a pair of boots that were warm, comfortable, water proof with a nice bit of foot support (that weren't hideously ugly) I was pretty sure that the fashion gods would be sat up Mount Fabulous having a good old chuckle at my gall.

But in your face! Because I got both, on one day. Yay!

Obviously I won't be shopping again for months because a) I have spent rather too much money and b) I have a feeling that a serendipitous shopping adventure like that only comes around once in a blue moon.

But right now I'm as happy as a clam and as toasty as, erm, a ... freshly toasted piece of toast...?

High and Dry

Now, I know this might be sacrilege to many of you, but I prefer a cold climate to a hot one. I don't mean that I like miserable weather, but a cold crisp day with perfect blue skies when you can wrap up warm and stomp about the countryside is my idea of heaven.

And maybe it is just that in my head I am fantasising about living somewhere cooler, you know, like Sweden, but I am becoming completely obsessed with boots that cater for weathers slightly more extreme than the ones I experience in the south west of England.

But seriously, all I want right now is to buy a pair of boots that is waterproof, warm and with really good grip.

Maybe I'm just getting old. They look really good, though too, don't you think? Particularly the Sorel ones. I love the wedges but they do definitely fall down on the practical side.

 Ecco above

 

 

Sorel below

Can I find anyway to justify buying a pair of boots that would be infinitely more suited to a life in Alaska?

I can, you say? Well, that's just marvellous!

 Toasty dry feet for all this winter.

Now I just have to pick which pair I want...

(Images via Ecco, Sorel)

Toe the Line

(Images via Net a Porter)

Oh my days, aren't these boots the most beautiful thing you have ever seen? Yves Saint Laurent (not yet Saint Laurent Paris, thank goodness). I want them so bad, but seeing as I am exceedingly unlikely to ever, in all my life, come across a spare £1000 I think it is unlikely that I will ever own them. Sigh.

Knee High to a Grasshopper

Alexander McQueen

A few years ago the thought of wearing ankle boots was so unappealing. I remember a girl at school had a pair and, sartorially speaking, I thought she was entirely without hope.

Charlotte Olympia

But then the ankle boot came into our lives, even with skirts, and it was love.

Dian von Furstenberg

So now the thought of knee high boots seems bizarre. Very much too much of them, don't you think?

Giuseppe Zanotti

But they are creeping back into my consciousness and I actually think they look rather smart.

Gucci

I think I will dust off an old pair to start with and see how I run with those and while the pair I have are flat I might treat myself to a slim heeled pair as they just look so elegant.

Reed Krakoff

What about you? Tempted by knee high or sticking with ankle?

Alexander Wang

Altuzarra

Bottega Venetta

(Images via Net a Porter, Style.com)

A Girl in Sheep's Clothing

Lordy, winter has arrived. My feet were so cold by the time I got to work on Friday that it took about an hour to defrost them.

My colleagues are fans on the shearling boot and persuaded me (although, really, it didn't take that much) to get some. But I've never considered an Ugg to be my style. But the warmth... THE WARMTH! How could I not have that in my life? And when we got let out of work an hour early it really seemed like a sign as I would be able to make it to my favourite boutique, Lux, to have a look at their reduced Australian Luxe boots.

The pair above were ones that I lusted after a couple of months ago but their price was prohibitive. But at two thirds off now they didn't seem so bad. Now the question was, could I compromise my style for cosy toes? I put them on and while it was like sliding my feet into heaven I knew that they just weren't for me.

Fortunately they also had the Belstaff Jenn Gumlight boot. Sheepskin lined, but leather. A bit more practical, a bit cooler, and at the same price, it really wasn't too much to work out. Except that my bulky calves mean that I will have to make more holes in the straps. But that is a little niggle for a really perfect, and warm pair of boots. Here's to happy feet. Yay!

An Ugg by Any Other Name

My one woman mission against the Ugg has been well documented (by me, at any road) so when I clapped eyes on this boot I should have shuddered in disgust. But actually I thought how lovely it looked. You can fold over the top and flop out a mass of really silky looking Mongolian wool. The strapping resembles the Vivienne Westwood pirate boot (hmmm, which I also hate, so I'm not sure why I'm so enamoured of these).

Can I fool myself that because these aren't Uggs, but are by Australian Luxe, that I am allowed to hanker after them free from accusations of hyprocrisy? But the reality is that if I ever see a woman in a similar looking boot I always assume Ugg and I always mentally raise my lip into a sneer, if not physically too. So surely other women would do the same.

 And I just can't be having that.

(Images via Australian Luxe)

Actually, honestly, what am I thinking? The worst thing about the Ugg is the schlep, schlep, schlep noise og an almost entirely unsupported foot being dragged along the pavement. Surely these would make the same noise as the structure looks basically the same. And if I did that I really couldn't look at myself in the mirror again with any respect.

So all in all it has to be a no. Phew! Another fashion dilemma solved.