My summer shoe edit focused on what I wore the most and what the lessons for the next spring/summer. My fall/winter analysis focuses on analyzing what I have and what are the most essential new purchases to make my fall wardrobe vital. Since I am planning to wear a lot of cropped pants and jeans having the right footwear to go with them is absolutely crucial. I know I need some new higher shaft booties so I am trying to figure out the most logical items to purchase here (discussed half-way down the post, highlighted in bold). For reference, in the colder months I wear lots of darker cooler colors like black, grey, navy, burgundy and eggplant; as well as a good amount of lighter colors such as whites, blush, pale blue, and lighter greys and taupes. My hair is darker cool blond.
Most of the post will focus on booties/boots. A lot of the shoes from my summer post can be worn in the first few months of fall, too, so I won't mention them here. I have a few pairs that get most wear in the colder weather so they weren't mentioned there. They are my most current black/camo oxfords with pointy to and stacked heel in #1, and high-top navy sneakers in #2. I also got new white sneaks at NAS that should hopefully get a lot of wear this season (#3). I would love to get a new pair Mary Janes with medium-height stacked heel and a pair of updated loafer/pumps with similar heel, but those are lower priority considering the window for wear.
I divide boots in three groups: special ones for bad weather, tall boots, and booties- with lower and higher shaft subcategories. In the first category I am more-less covered: I have a pair of tall waterproof leather, lined Uggs for snow, fun sleek yellow rubber Tretorn boots for rain and bone duck booties (#4-#6). I remember wishing last winter a pair of lower black moto boots that were warmly lined but that is a lower priority, too.
My selection of tall boots is pretty decent and I won't be getting any new ones considering that they will be getting medium wear at best. With my plan to focus on dark romance , 70s and military looks, as well cropped pants all the width, I suspect that the most useful pairs will be the black suede wedges and grey lace-ups that fit super sleek and can be worn under wider crops; as well black lace-up military boots (#7-#9). I have some classic flat tall boots in black , grey and tan leather,, as well as brown suede.
OK, the main issue of booties (taking a deep breath). They are by far the most important winter shoe category for me as they get worn most of the time. I have a couple of groups to analyze:
1. Cut-out booties, for earlier fall (#10-#12). I wonder if this trend is on it's way out.
2. Fun novelty booties that don't get much wear: tan dessert booties, black lace-up wedge peep toes ( would be fun for dark romance, but only outside of work), 4' back wedges for long flares that I can wear 4h at most), red wedges, taupe block heel (not that comfy) (#13-#18).
3. Darker high shaft booties. I am almost set here with navy suede, burgundy suede, pewter textured and black low wedge (#19-#22). The issue is that the black SWs are taller, but the shaft is very loose around my ankle, thus can only be worn wider crops. I wore the pewter last season whenever I need sleeker dark "black" booties with crops, but would really like a sleek black pair too. I am thinking suede lace-ups with small block heel to go with all the Victorian looks. I would love a dark /patterned pair too, and even a leopard, but those are simply wants. I have some dark lower shaft booties, too, but those are not that important here.
4. Lighter booties. I have a silver higher shaft pair that works well with crops (#23). There is a pair of taupe-ish flat booties which are somewhere borderline with low and high shaft and can work with some of my crops, but are fairly flat (#24). I have two pairs of old light Petties (#25 and #26) in snow leopard and snakeskin (hope they are not outdated) that I am keeping to wear with full length skinnies, but they certainly do not work with crops. So that leaves me with the issue of higher shaft light booties I need for my lighter, crops, which are white denim, light wash denim, blush and possibly tan/toffee too. The silver pair is fun but very attention grabbing and I do not want to wear them all the time. The most logical solution would be to get two pairs, one in a cooler light ( my wardrobe is mostly cooler) such as bone, blush, pale grey, pale taupe and one warmer (tan, rust, cognac) for jeans and warmer pants. I'd prefer them both to have a small to mid block heel. The cooler pair is the most important purchase for me this fall, I think. I am seriously considering Topshop blush Marilyn for this purpose. I have just purchased the tan suede Report pair for the warmer option, but not sure if I am keeping them yet (a post on them in the future).
I would be very curious to hear your opinions on the whole higher shaft bootie situation. Would you agree the taller cooler booties like the Marilyns should be my #1 priority? Would you consider black lace-ups of warmer light neutral more important? Do you see any holes I may have missed?
