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Francie’s Fall Boots

Hello, lovelies!

We are talking about fall boots on the blog this week so I’m going to have to briefly abandon being in denial about the fact that summer ends. Hands down, the shoes I wear most often in the fall and winter are boots. From dresses and skirts to jeans and pants, there is a boot for nearly every outfit. Today I’m sharing two of my favorites: knee-high stretch suede boots and cowboy boots.

Knee-High Stretch Suede Boots

This picture is very deceiving. It makes me look like I have tiny little bird legs, which I most assuredly do not. It also reminds me why we raise our phones and point them downward when taking pictures so we get a more flattering angle, but I digress. The reality is that my calves are curvy, which can make finding boots a challenge. Whether your calves are curvy, so thin they swim in boots, or somewhere in the middle, there is a boot material that works for all of us: stretch suede. It adjusts to fit whatever size your lovely legs are.

Another great thing about stretch suede boots is their sleekness. Personally I’m not a big fan of boots with buckles, straps, and other trimmings on them, and especially not for those of us whose legs are less lean. Stretch boots will make your legs look longer and can be worn under pants if you’re going on a trip and trying to minimize how many pairs of shoes you take (yes, I’m always thinking about packing light—this is going to come in handy for those of you who want packing tips and keep reading my posts). For those of you who are Style Vault Complete Insiders, I’ve put a pair of stretch suede knee-high boots in the Complete Vault (this collection is available to Complete Insiders; to upgrade your Style Vault membership or sign up for a free 5 day trial, click here and start shopping even more categories).

Let’s detour from boots for a minute and talk about this dress. I’ll be devoting an entire post to singing praises for wrap dresses later, but for now I’ll just say that dresses are my favorite article of clothing, and wrap dresses are my favorite type of dress. Apparently I’m also a fan of animal prints considering this is my third post on the style blog, and all three have had an item with an animal print. If you like my dress, you’ll be as excited as I am that I’ve found you two similar ones for less than $100, which are in Your Style Vault Complete. One comes in sizes 2 to 14, and one is in plus sizes (ladies who have asked for the latter, I’m listening!). If you’re not a Style Vault Complete Insider yet (even more categories and more exclusive deals reserved only for Complete Insiders), click here to receive a free 5-day trial and see how much time you’ll save by having me hunt down great finds for you to shop from the Vault.

Cowboy Boots

Once upon a time, cowboy boots were only worn by actual cowboys and country music stars. I’m glad those days are over because I am a huge fan of cowboy boots and love that I now see women wearing them far beyond Texas and Nashville. If you’ve never worn cowboy boots, you might not know that the right ones are incredibly comfortable. The boots I’m wearing here easily have several hundred miles on them. I know (thanks to my Fitbit) that I walked more than 20 miles in them in just one weekend in New York City. I wore another pair of cowboy boots for 10 days straight in Italy and France walking several miles a day. They’re that comfortable. And I don’t believe a good pair will need a lot of breaking in, as some people say all cowboy boots do. Yes, the leather softens, and the inside of the boots will mold to your feet. But if a pair hurts your feet initially, they are not the right boots.

I have a thing for bling so I fell hard for these sparkly boots the minute I first saw them. You can tell how often I wear them by the blue that has rubbed off on them from jeans and the toes being far less shiny than the shafts. They are my favorite boot brand, Lucchese, which is a splurge; however, I’m obviously getting my money’s worth out of them. This style doesn't seem to be made any longer, but depending on your size, you might luck into a pair with some online sleuthing (style M4715 in stone python print if you want to hunt). Old Gringo has a bone boot with decorative embroidery if you like the idea of a fancy cowboy boot (is that an oxymoron?).

I’ve put two great pairs of brown cowboy boots in Your Style Vault Complete for you. I would highly recommend starting with brown if this is your first pair of cowboy boots because it is such a versatile color. Both pairs come in extended width (also called wide calf) options, which we curvy-calved ladies who can sometimes feel like nothing fits us are always so happy to find. Just this morning, a friend and I were talking about how we used to feel like we should buy any pair of extended width boots we saw because they were so rare. Fortunately, there are far more extended width boot options now, and you can even find entire sections of them at several stores, including Nordstrom and Target. That said, my experience is that most western-style cowboy boots (not riding boots) have fairly generous calf circumferences in their standard widths.

If you want to see more fall boots, check out this week’s posts from the other Style Vault contributors. If you want more of my style tips before I’m back on the blog, follow me on Instagram. Meanwhile, I love summer so I’m going back to enjoying it being too hot for me to want to wear boots.

Until next time,

Francie