These boots are made for snowdrifts
Even starlets have ditched the high heels in favour of more practical winter wear
In the popular TV show Fargo many of the Midwestern characters are often seen wearing Sorel winter boots. The heavy rubber boots that the Minnesotans wear in the current season, set in 1979, communicates to viewers: These are an uber-practical people.
Fast-forward to 2015. In real life, sturdy Minnesotans still wear Sorels, but so do style-setters such as Katie Holmes and Blake Lively. In the past few years practical winter boot brands, like Sorel, have started popping up on starlets on the street, on models in the pages of fashion bible Vogue as well as on the feet of many a practical person who lives in a cold climate (a.k.a. Canadians).
From Midwesterners to Hollywood “The late ’90s and early 2000s saw a return to heritage product. Authenticity, practicality and common sense felt more appealing than braving the elements in high heels. Cool girls started reaching for vintage styles such as moccasins, Hunters, L.L. Bean boots, and Sorels,” said Suzanne Timmins, senior vice-president and fashion director at Hudson’s Bay.
“By the mid-2000s, the era of celebrity product placement was in full gear and practical winter boots were firmly established as the ‘go-to’ for stylish women, ” she said in an email interview.
No more suffering for fashion? Stylish women, such as Renee Kaylor, were loath to give up style for comfort. But then many brands started offering pretty and practical takes fit for the subway or the slopes.
“I have seen a change. I really fought it at first,” said the Torontobased personal stylist in a phone interview. She caved last winter and found a pair of white Sorels, accented with faux fur and silver trim.
Vanessa Cesario, the brunette behind the fashion blog The Brunette Salad, was also hesitant to go the comfort-core route. But when the sidewalks are slushy and salty, even the most diehard fashionista must compromise.
“My go-to winter boot is a man’s Timberland — the rubber ones,” she said in a phone interview. “They’re honestly the best; they don’t get wet.”
To keep her feet warm the blogger pairs the caramel-coloured boots with thick wool socks. It’s not only women who are embracing the piping hot comfort-core and athleisure trends on a cold winter’s day, men have also embraced practical boots in the past few seasons.
Young men who work in cubicle farms have taken to wearing winter boots that look like they’re meant for actual farms, but with some modern twists. City men, such as Nelson Miu, the men’s fashion director at Hudson’s Bay, is a “big fan” of Sorels, which have added pops of colour and sleeker styles to appeal to fashionable urbanites of both genders.
Canadian connection It’s no coincidence that fashion influencers have become big fans of the Sorel brand, which used to be made in Kitchener, Ont., by Kaufman Rubber Co. After Kaufman went bankrupt and the brand sold, Columbia Sportswear made a concerted effort to step away from its roots as a boot for unstylish Midwesterners. The new owners got their boots on starlets, in magazines and on TV shows.
Many heritage brands, from Sorel to Timberland, now offer feminine takes on their typically masculine boots, adding accents such as pink laces, plaid patterns and platform heels.
Boot brands that were once associated with the deeply uncool Minnesotan set have now become very hot sellers among the fashion set. Be warned: many of these boots sell out well before the first snowflakes hit the ground, so get ’em while they’re hot.