Found: the perfect pair of brown Victorian inspired boots

✯ Day 321 of Vintage 365 ✯

Though I can't (off the top of my head) say this with complete certainly, I don't know if I've ever featured a pair of (non-rain or snow related) boots before on this site.

As a massive lover of boots, it's been a bit hard to share some of my favourite sartorial finds over the years without including an example from this significant branch of the footwear tree.

The reason behind this has been, primarily, simply that I like to adhere to the precise fashions of the 30s-50s, and this was not an era (outside of weather and equestrian related ones) that saw ladies wearing many boots at all.

Up until the days of the Edwardian period, and then again from the swinging sixties onwards, boots had (and have) been a major wardrobe player. During the mid-twentieth century however, their popularity waned in favour of smaller (in terms of the amount of material used and how far they went up the wearer's calf) shoes, such as pumps, flats, wedge heels, sandals, and Mary Janes.

Though I have no doubt that a handful women continued to wear boots during the 30s, 4os and 50s (outside of professional reasons why they may have had to, that is), doing so was absolutely by no means the norm.

I adore vintage footwear of just about every kind as much as the next gal, however as someone with slightly uneven sized feet that are "thick" from top to bottom who usually wears a size 8.5 (give or take half a size depending on the brand), it can be pretty darn tricky to find genuine vintage shoes or even vintage reproduction shoes that come even remotely close to fitting me properly (or comfortably!).

As such, while I do have some such shoes (gathered from years of dedicated searching and trying on hundreds upon hundreds of different pairs), in order to help stretch out my meagre sized footwear collection, I've often turned to classically styled boots.

There's no shooties, studded punk style, thigh-high, or platform numbers living on the floor of my closet. On the contrary, at the moment one would find a tall pair of classic black riding inspired boots and another (also black) pair of simply styled ankle length slip-on boots. Both are in heavy rotation, even though they don't look strictly vintage in a mid-twentieth way (not of course, that everything a vintage loving girl wears has to!).

In the past I've owned various pairs of Victorian/Edwardian inspired lace up boots however and am perpetually on the prowl for another such pair.

Thus while (given my oddly proportioned feet) I've learned it simply not worth the heartache and disappointment (when they don't fit, that is) to order shoes online, I know that many of you do just that often. So when I recently chanced up the richly beautiful pair of dark caramel brown Victorian inspired boots below, I knew that I simply had to share them here with you.

My heart skipped a beat or two when I laid eyes on these timelessly elegant boots (which are available in ladies sizes and half sizes from 5.5 to 10, for $49.99 US, from ModCloth.com) with their neat rows of eyelets, perfectly buttery brown hue, and immensely wearable heel. In fact, despite what I just said above, I'm giving serious consideration to ordering a pair.

I'll sleep on it a day or two more though before deciding. In the meantime - and certainly long after if I don't end up taking the plunge - I can't help but think of the many amazing looks (from long wool winter dresses to being slipped beneath the hems of a pair of classic wide-legged, high-waisted trousers) that these terrifically pretty old-fashioned styled boots would go with.

So while (much as I have to fight the urge to do so) I may not post boots often here, I hope you'll agree with me that this stellar brown lace-up pair is timelessly classic enough to warrant its inclusion in a Chronically Vintage post.