When Resignation Reigns

I’m not going to lie—I’m particular about things. I was a picky child, and I’m a picky adult. I have very specific ideas of what I want in clothing and shoes. My hunt for knee-high boots has been a two-year string of disappointments because I’m picky. I just can’t help it; if I’m willing to spend money on something, I want it to be right. I want my boots to be:

• Versatile (capable of dressing up or down, whether I’m wearing a skirt or jeans)
• Good quality (made of a nice leather that’s not too rough)
• Comfortable (it can have a heel or wedge, but not too tall)
• Fit (they should fit comfortably snug around my legs)
• Price (I have a price range that I want to keep within)

This really limits what I’m looking for at a store. No riding boots because they’re too casual. No stiletto heels because I need to be able to walk more than two blocks in them. No large bands of elastic that I find so ugly. [Pause.] Let’s just say there’s a lot of things I don’t want. [Sigh.]

Not long ago I bemoaned about big boots and my inability to find a pair that I not only liked but also fit me properly. Recently, I once again found a pair of boots online that looked promising so I went to the store to try them on. I found the boots on display and the leather felt pretty nice and I liked the style of the boot so my hopes were high. However, when I tried them on, while comfortable, they were once again too large around my legs. I was so very disappointed (especially since my beloved old boots and these new boots were the same brand, yet the fit was so vastly different).

After I relayed my disappointment about the fit, the salesperson mentioned that I might consider getting them altered and I told her I’d think about it and left the store. I continued to shop, though mostly my mind was on her suggestion of alterations. I didn’t really want to take that extra step and expense of getting a pair of boots altered, and yet, it seemed my options were limited. The shift in boot size appears to be pervasive; it seems as though the average customer shoe companies have in mind for their boots is not someone like me, and there was little I could do to remedy the situation.

Finally, I decided to just buy the boots and get them altered. I came to the conclusion that the chances of me finding a pair of boots that I loved and fit me were practically non-existent. I’d be waiting forever…and I just couldn’t wait that long. I was so tired of looking for the perfect pair of boots. I just wanted a pair of boots for the winter that would take the place of my beloved no longer waterproof boots. So I just had to suck it up and get these new boots altered.

Bemoaning Big Boots

I have just one pair of knee high boots that I adore (in fact they’re my only pair of boots). I bought them four years ago; I wasn’t looking for a pair of boots, just merely stumbled upon them. I would pass this shoe store on the way to work and would do the Walk and Stare. (You know, when you see something beautiful in a store window and your eyes lock onto it and you can’t look away as you’re walking past it, so you bend your head as far back as it can go before you finally have to snap your head forward again.) I passed these boots many times until I couldn’t resist it any longer and finally went into the store. I was almost afraid to see the boots up close because I thought for sure that they would be outlandishly expensive…but they weren’t. I tried them on and instantly knew that I had to have them.

Had I known then how hard it was to find a pair of boots I love, I would have stocked up. Yet I was naive; I didn’t realize my luck at the time. I’ve worn my beloved boots over the years and taken good care of them, and while they still look great, they’ve become no longer waterproof. This is a major problem. I can only wear them on dry days, and most of the cold months in Oregon are also rainy ones. So it sucks. I still wear them, but I can’t wear them as much as I would like.

Thus, I’ve been on the lookout for new boots for the last couple of years but I’ve had so many disappointments. Often the cute boots I see online don’t match my expectations when I see them in the store. The leather doesn’t feel that great or looks cheap. Last year the pair of boots I had high hopes for disappointed me with a two inch wide strip of elastic that ran down the entire height of the boot, which was incredibly ugly and cheapened the entire boot. Lately my biggest problem is that the boots are meant for those with wider legs.

I realize that shoe companies are trying to reach the broadest audience possible by having wider fitting boots so that they can sell more, but I’m struggling to find a pair of boots that I want and will fit me. It’s frustrating because I don’t think I’m terribly thin, I’m rather average in size. (I guess I’m on the thinner size in the U.S.—but that’s not saying much; if I were in Asia I would be on the larger size and could probably stand to lose a few kilos). But it seems like more often than not, when I try on a pair of boots, I look like a child in her mother’s shoes…it looks terrible.

It just seems like there should be different options for the leg widths of knee high boots. I’m sure it’s not as cost effective to have more than one leg width of boot for a single boot style, but one size is not going to fit all. There’s different shoes sizes for the actual foot, what about for the leg part? Because I don’t want my legs to be swimming in a pair of boots; and I’m not going to buy a pair a boots that aren’t going to fit me properly.