Where The Boots Are

As autumn weather begins steadily creeping in my feet start to itch for boots. There is nothing not to love about boots, they keep your feet warm and dry, they instantly jazz up even the most ordinary outfit, often they have wonderful accessories like ruffles, buttons, bows, fringe, and buckles, and most importantly they hide your hairy legs when you don't feel like shaving them. For a long time I only had two pairs of boots, and they were both pleather, so you could climb through a mud pit then come home and just wipe them off with a wet towel. They also didn't really require much careful storage, usually I just propped them up against my closet wall. As I got more into boots, both tall and short storage became more and more of an issue. About two years ago my mother actually came up with the solution when we were buying storage containers for our bountiful collection of Christmas decorations. Target had these long, low boxes that were on wheels, perfect for underbed storage, and I bought three for somewhere around $12-$15. Of course they had red and green lids because they were meant for Christmas decorations, but then again boots always put me in a festive mood. I used one for my tall boots, one for my half boots and booties, and one for my purses and lined them up under my bed. I have a twin bed and the three containers fit perfectly, bigger bed could obviously fit more. they have locking lids which keeps dust and water out, the outside can easily be wiped clean and they are long enough that boots can be laid flat to prevent damage to them. When I want something I simply roll them out, the purses obviously get use year round, but the boots stay nicely tucked away when I don't need them.

My purses, I have three large bags that I keep separately hung on hooks, as well as some vintage purses I keep in their original boxes wrapped in issue, but overall I keep most of my purses together here. I know that on average I have small bags, either clutches or not much bigger so this method works well for me. For someone with really large bags this might not work as well.

My half boots and booties, these sometimes get worn in summer, in particular my cowboy boots (#6) these are a mix of real and fake materials but there is enough air circulating that no real materials get damaged. Back at the beginning I documented all my shoes but because it was spring these were all packed away.

1.) Nine West suede and leather ankle boots with lacing and grommets, hand-me-downs from L'Oreal

2.) Franco Sarto turquoise suede half boots $30 at Marshall's bought on sale while Christmas shopping (because Santa should take care of you too)

3.) Fiori faux leather and suede cranberry booties via Payless, more people compliment me on these and think they're the real thing. I bought these at a Payless BOGO sale along with a pair of black booties with three buttons (now long gone) and only paid something like $13 for both pairs

4.) Dollhouse hot pink faux suede booties ??? not sure were I got them

5.) Prada embroidered half boots, thrifted in a vintage store in Harajuku, Japan. I had to have these shoes reheeled and resoled they were in such bad shape. I have seen Prada mules from the early 90's that have very similar embroidery and styling, but never saw any boots to match. I couldn't say if these are knockoffs or not, I got them for only $50, but I think they're pricing had to do more with the fact that they were a size 9, and nobody in Japan buys shoes that big than whether or not they were real. I can say that there was a good deal that was legitimate in the store, I remember distinctly some fantastic 60's era Pucci dresses and knits.

6.) Nine West urban cowboy boots, these have made a few appearances on the blog so far, bought on Black Friday at the Nine West outlet for about $40 and have been worn tons of times with little or no wear.

7.) White faux leather CA Collection boots with silver buckles and wood heel, $6.99 at Goodwill. These could really be in the other box with the full height boots. I have wanted a white or bone colored pair of boots for a long time, these aren't perfect and I'll keep looking but for the price they aren't bad.

8.) M.C. & Powers cream and cordovan steampunk halfboots bought at 50% off sale at Savers for $3.50

I try to keep all the real suede and leather boots laid flat so the materials don't crack or stain or permanently crease. The cloth or plastic ones I don't mind as much folding, or the pairs that are naturally meant to be slouchy.

1.) Kenneth Cole Reaction cranberry suede boots with leather detail, $15 at Savers 50% off sale (never been worn!)

2.) Chinese Laundry black flat suede slouch boots from DSW, these are surprisingly durable for suede and my go to boots for Black Friday shopping over leggings and have braved both the cold and the rain in pursuit of fashion. They also are great pirate boots, when such things are called for.

3.) Silver pleather boots with buckle detail from Payless, I bought these on a whim for $9 and have worn them for more than six years and people constantly stop me to ask where I got them. They show zero wear and wipe clean beautifully, they also are convincing pleather.

4.) Black leather high button boots with ruffle detail and stacked heel, I had consigned my previous pair of black high heeled boots (very trendy Jessica Simpson platforms that weren't really me) and was looking for a new better pair when I saw these and feel in love with their Victorian Lady style, but they were priced out of my range. Luckily I received some DSW gift cards and was able to get the price down to $50 out of pocket which I could afford. The winter I bought these was also the snowiest I can remember and they held up despite the weather and salt on the roads.

5.) Brown cloth boots (made to look like suede) no brand name from J. Marcel. These were the first pair of shoes I ever bought from J. Marcel, when I wandered in off the street. There were a few winter leftovers in late spring (this wasn't long after they opened, the sale room didn't even exist back than) and I picked these up for $15 to replace my first pair of boots, a much much duller brown pleather pair from Target that I had worn for more than 5 years.

6.) Faux suede and leather grey boots with silver button detailing from Payless, another pair people often mistake for being much more expensive than it was. I think these were around $17, the only downsdie is that the faux suede is so pale it does tend to stain a bit.