Call it an extension of the ugly shoe trend, but white cowboy boots are having a moment. Birkenstocks, Crocs and dad trainers have all had their moment to shine and now this divisive shoe is having it’s time in the sun, both on and off the catwalk.
We can pinpoint exactly when we knew cowboy boots were going to stage a coup on our footwear. It was May last year and Millie Bobby Brown turned up to the MTV Movie Awards wearing a pair of blindingly white cowboy boots with a Calvin Klein dress. One example is easy to dismiss, but then Ganni presented the world with a pair of ankle-grazing Western boots and Ashley Williams, Topshop, Zara, House of Holland and Toga also got in on the hoedown.
At London Fashion Week there was no escaping it, everyone was saying ‘yee-haw’ to the style. Retiring their sock boots and knee-highs for this directional game-changer. Truly, it's no more a flight of fancy than any other ludicrous accessory adopted the street style set (looking at you bum bags and plastic jeans). If you’re feeling brave, might we recommend pairing them - like half of LFW did - with jeans or a micro-floral dress?
If we’re honest, it was only a matter of time before this was inevitable. For, recently Western shirts, denim and prairie dresses have been on the sartorial agenda. Add in the current 1980s revival and suddenly you have a ven diagram of trends that lead neatly to the cowboy boots return to the top.
The kicker? They are actually what our wardrobe has been missing. With a manageable low heel and an elongated toe, they add height and lengthen the legs.
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.