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We trudge through the endless onslaught of slushy snow in them, and they crunch the crisp fall leaves below when we walk from class to class. When chosen correctly, they can provide our feet with both the warmth and panache necessary to live a comfortable and happy life. But with winters as unrelenting as those in the Salt Lake Valley, locating a solid pair of stylish boots that can actually last through March can be thoroughly frustrating.
When preparing for the epic six-month flurry of sleet, hail, snow, rain and nipping temperatures, I often hear my friends fussing over that elusive, perfect pair of boots to meet both their functional and aesthetic standards. If there’s anything I’ve learned in my three short years of semi-independent living as a college student (where, much to my dismay, the responsibility of providing an adequate wardrobe falls solely upon me), it is that this task just cannot be done. You can spend hours in front of a mirror trying to convince yourself that your Hunters look decent, but the fact of the matter is that no matter what you do or say, your winterized rain boots will always just look kind of weird at the bottom of an otherwise polished outfit.
Adversely, there is no magic fix to warm up those adorable Chelsea boots you bought for fall or to keep them safe amidst the atrocities of Utah’s undeniably feisty winters. If you wear these in a snowstorm, they will be eaten alive, throwing all that hard-earned money down the drain. You will never find that magical pair of boots to satisfy all of your needs.
I let this fact eat me up two winters ago. My favorite pair of black leather ankle boots from Zara withered away to nothing over the course of only a couple months (a pair of boots, might I add, that were not inexpensive — though with the help of my adorably domestic, gifted older brother I was able to mostly salvage them). Aside from a pair of light-brown oxford boots, these were the only shoes I strapped to my feet during the winter of ’12-’13, and as such they faced more hardships than a child born at sea into a family of pirates.
I think the only real advice I have to give to you is this: Supply yourself with a large, eclectic family of boots. Get some that are sturdy and lined with fur and some that are simple and stylish. This is the philosophy I followed last fall and winter, and it worked like a dream. With more than seven pairs of boots to alternate through, I’ve somehow hacked winter. All of my boots from last year not only survived, but thrived through the winter. Listen, sometimes Mother Nature lashes out and goes a little overboard with winter weather, and in these circumstances those borderline-heinous boots are acceptable, but please, for the sake of all of us, keep some lighter, more fashionable pairs of boots lying around for the more mellow days.
[email protected]
@ChronyArts
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