Treat the feet to some boots of whimsy
Fall comes in like the ice-bucket challenge of seasons: a brisk wakeup call from the barefoot bliss of summer back to our desks, back to school and back to Real Life.
Here in Toronto, the first signs of fall arrive with the return of TIFF madness and, this year, a cornucopia of Fashion Week events clamouring for attention. All making it high time to start dealing with (fill in straggly hair, nails, brows and disorganized desktops, etc., here). A new year (quite literally, amongst those of us who are Jewish) demands a new and hopefully more pulledtogether you.
As we know from myth and fable, such transformation often requires a transformative garment.
Something imbued with magical powers, like a magnificent coat of many colours or a pair of swashbuckling Seven-league boots. Hence the appeal of Vogue’s doorstopper of a September issue as well as the renewed bustle in the freshly stocked shops along Bloor. Come fall, even those of us who don’t need another thing are on the hunt for that one key item that just might make everything else in our wardrobes, if not our entire lives, make sense again.
I’ve been out scouting and my vote for said transformative item goes to a kick-ass pair of boots.
Specifically, to my surprise, a $2,900 pair of Louis Vuitton ankle booties.
I can already hear your gasps of dismay. As regular readers must know, I am not generally a fan of designer logos. If anything, wearing anything with an obvious designer brand or monogram on it seems less about personal style and more like a display of the contents of one’s purse.
There are, however, exceptions. What raised Nicolas Ghesquière’s fall/winter collection for Louis Vuitton to stellar were the snubnosed, lug-soled platform-heeled booties that seemed to make everything else he sent down the runway somehow right for the moment. Almost aggressively sensible and grounded looking, their gentlemen’s-spats-meets-cowboy-styled take on the classic combat boot gives them a sense of whimsy that seems modern, if not futuristic. With the added bonus that their superslim, sock-like profile makes them extremely flattering to the lower leg.
Admittedly, I am rather vain about my ankles, which seem to have held up as everything else droops. A charming, if rather inebriated, male colleague once told me at a party that my ankles resembled those of a racehorse — one compliment I won’t soon forget.
My own preference of course would be for the all-black pair in the ad campaigns without the monogrammed LV panels, but good luck to you in scoring a pair because I can’t even procure a picture of them from the folks at Vuitton.
And even though I don’t have the nerve, never mind the cheddar to toss down $2,900 for a pair of boots — and can’t imagine where, exactly, I plan on strutting around in them if I did — I still find myself pining for them. Karen von Hahn is a Toronto-based writer, trend observer and style commentator. Her new book, What Remains: Object Lessons in Love and Loss is published by the House of Anansi Press. Contact her at kvh@karenvonhahn.com.