wishlist: these boots

If you follow me on facebook or caught my links post a few weeks ago, you’ll know that a few weeks ago I was debating between two pairs of boots.

To recap (the visual contrast is critical here), this pair:

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And this pair (though I gather there are quality issues with this design, and have since reconsidered):

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As I was saying earlier, though, when I can’t decide between two items it is often a sign that neither of them is quite suitable, and that the search has only begun.

This point was brought definitively home the second I saw this pair from Free People (I like many of the boots they carry, incidentally), which has so soundly thrashed the former candidates that they are like so much  dust in the wind (though, admittedly, much less expensive dust). The rewards of patient browsing and an unwillingness to compromise.

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Gah!

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AGH!

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GAHHH!

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Such slouchy, distressed, buckled, riveted, quirky pseudo-spat perfection! I must have these boots, come what may. If they do not fit me properly, I believe I shall weep. If they sell out of my size before I can raise the funds, I do not know that there will be enough doughnuts to console me.

That is all.

 

more white stuff: Supergas

If you’re going to wear all white…you need white shoes.

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I wanted something casual, something very like Converse, with the versatility and casual style of Converse…but maybe not quite Converse. Something unfamiliar and new. Maybe something more in the classic tennis sneaker silhouette….And so I browsed.

months elapse

Finally I went for these classic Supergas (via Zappos). A few weeks after coming across the brand online I saw a woman on the train wearing some red ones with a dress and some funky glasses, which was advertisement enough. Supergas are like the Converse of Italy, with a sturdier canvas upper and a [much] heavier sole (though both benefit from some kind of insole). They have pleasing seam detailing along the sides that makes them more interesting than the ultra-plain tennis shoes (why are they called that? You couldn’t properly play tennis in them at all – they have almost zero support) in addition to being better constructed and more durable. [And here is a random tidbit for you: Mary Kate & Ashley Olsen are the current artistic directors of Superga.]

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They have the inbuilt impracticality of all white things vulnerable to stain and wear, and we know how I like impracticality. [As if one pair of impractical white shoes were not enough.] I’ve treated them with a fabric protector to extend the life as long as possible but I understand this can only accomplish so much. So be it.