CarnalNation

My editor Chris suggested I write about boots this week. Boots are a big deal in our office; Editor-in-Chief Theresa owns 20 pairs of Fluevog boots (no, that’s not a typo) and our CEO has ten. I’m personally obsessed with lace-up granny boots and have about a trillion pairs. Why boots? Because boots are SEXY. Boots make you feel powerful, and seductive, and everyone looks twice when you’re wearing a special pair of boots. There’s just something about encasing your legs in leather that people respond to.

Trends in boots come and go, and if you’re like me and like a certain style, it’s best to stock up while they’re around. Three years ago a friend came home from Paris wearing the most adorable little boots with Victorian-style buttons; all of us at the party freaked out and drooled on her feet because there weren’t any contemporary versions available in the US then.  Then shoes with buttons turned up at Fluevog. For the last two years the trend has been percolating into the mainstream. This winter Victorian button boots showed up at Target (though they’re completely sold out thanks to Goths and steampunks). So that means, if you happen to like this style (and who doesn’t? Even boys notice the hotness of button boots!) this is the perfect time to prowl the widest possible selection and find exactly the ones you like best.

Of course, in the actual Victorian era, buttons on your boots were a total PITA.

You can tell this because there are approximately a trillion billion Victorian buttonhooks still floating around, being collected by buttonhook fetishists antique collectors.

These often ornate devices, which made buttoning your boots easier, look like something your dentist would use, if your dentist was into ormolu handles shaped like Leda doing it with the swan. As those of us who have neglected to put on our boots BEFORE putting on our corsets know, it’s also a huge pain to put on boots while wearing a corset. Luckily, virtually all the modern button-boots have zippers.

So I scoured the internet for you, because I am an obsessive freak, and here is what I’ve found.

Let’s start with the Fluevogs; they come in LAVENDER, for God’s sake! And one of them is vegan!

The Ida Clark:	and the taller Libby Smith:

And Babycake:

You know if you bought these you’d never regret it. But they’re soooo expensive!