These Boots Are Made for Walkin 남자, 부츠를 신다

Texts and Photos by Elizabeth Livingfash & Akin Abayomi

In the search for the perfect boots we visited some of the local boot stores. After all, we live in the capital of Texas, the state known for the cowboys, b.b.q., and the Alamo. We search high and low for the staple of a well-dressed cowboy. It’s not just that we like boots but we wanted to wear something from back home in our upcoming trip around the world.

Granted, we had hesitations about the weight of the boots and the feel of the footwear as far a comfort, but after doing some research online on Cowboy boots we ventured out to local stores to try some boots and I have to say by the end of purchasing the boots we started to feel a little bit like Cinderella.

Here is what we learnt from our research online, western boots come in all different styles, from cowboy boots, ropers, Stockman, western work, buckaroo, etc. The classic western boot also called a.k.a, cowboy style is designed to keep you in the saddle, no laces and a toe box that can protect you if a horse steps on your feet. The heels area also a factor, the heel is created for easy riding by keeping the boots from going all the way through the stirrup if the horse happens to throw the rider, that way the horse rider would not get stuck in the stirrup.

The story of the cowboy boots origins goes back to after the American Civil War was over in 1865. It is said that cowboys who were driving cattle across the country realized that they needed a different style of boots from what was readably available at that time. The boots needed to be made of strong leather to withstand the weather and the poor conditions of riding long hours on the trails. The boots also needed to protect the feet from snakes and the rubbing of the stirrups during horse riding.

Another important fact about boots are the heels, they come in different varieties, we have the western heel, cowboy heel, undershoot to roper heel and many more in between. Boots also range on toe shape, R-toe, snip toe, J-toe, roper toe square toe. Not to mention the variety of leathers that they can possibly be made with. With comfort in mind, we started the day looking for a style that would suit our hectic travel schedule. Also, we could not forgo on style as an indicator in our frantic search.

An embroidered pair of leather handmade boots caught our attention. Secondly, the brown leather boot with white stitching in square toe style. With a few options as seen below, Akin tried them all for the right fit. After all, he’ll be walking the fashion route with the lucky pair.

Here a similar Snip toe style with western heel. The difference is mainly in the design, one is bright turquois and brown leather and the other features a wiggly tan stitching pattern. Both pairs are handmade and feature leather soles as well as leather upper. We soon, found out that the best fit for Akin was the snip toe, the round toe didn’t quite catch his attention. The J-toe was very pointy to his taste but it’s definitely an eye catcher because it’s sharply pointed with a tapered foot.

Boots come in different lengths, which contribute, to the final style. A few examples of these choices are short ankle boots, 10” shaft and the 13” shaft. We really did not have a choice in the selection of the shaft length, most of the boots if not all the ones that fit our taste selection came in 13” length. The top of the shaft opens to a verity of styles which is called the scallop opening. Common selections for the scallops are stovepipe, double rose, shallow and deep.

Now to the heel selection, the most common cowboy boot is a medium heel height, which is also referred as the standard heel height about 1½ inches in height with a wide flat bottom for good balance. Most find these feel ideal for walking and riding a horse. The low heel boots area flat bottoms with a 1 inch or less in height; these types of boots are ideal for roping events and walking or ranch work and high heel boots are 2 inch or higher boot heels are good for riding.

After two days of searching on the ideal style and feel of the boots, The choices came down to two, one from “Old gringo” other selection from Ariat. The Old gringo was hand made with leather soles and the Arita was mostly machine made with rubber soles illustrated in the image below. The final selection was the Old gringo, it came with 13” shaft with an extra deep scallop design top and 1½” riding heel snip toe front. Now comes the fun part of breaking the boots in.

 

 

Contributors, Elizabeth Livingfash &  Akin Abayomi

Elizabeth Livingfash is a fashion blogger & writer and she had contributed to a Spanish magazine in the past. She works with her boyfriend photographer AkinAbayomi and they together cover world best fashion weeks and music festivals. More detail about them, www.livingfash.com,akinabayomi.com

미국 텍사스 출신의 엘리자베스 리링패쉬는 전 세계 패션위크와 뮤직 페스티벌을 직접 취재하는 패션 블로거이자 작가이다. 스페인 패션 매거진에 기고를 하였으며 현재 패션 전문 사진 작가이자 연인인 아킨 아바요미와 함께 패션에 관련된 다양한 콘텐츠를 만들고 있다. 그들의 보다 자세한 활동은www.livingfash.com,akinabayomi.com 에서 확인할 수 있다.