Boots In Summer? Yes You Can

My earliest fashion memory is of?a pair of red patent T-bar sandals with a raffia wedge (I say wedge; it was probably only half an inch high, but my memory of those soles is that they?were virtually vertiginous and terribly?grown up). I arrived home from school one afternoon and they were sitting on the bottom step of the hall stairs waiting for me, my mother beside them with a knowing smile on her face. I loved them more than anything, and the thrill of that afternoon was only surpassed by a similarly unexpected gift of leg warmers a few years later. Given it was?the late seventies, and?I was about six, it was perfectly acceptable – in fact very cool – to wear these sandals with white ankle socks,?which also conveniently circumvented the issue of frozen toe syndrome, which whether we like it or not, is part and parcel of an Irish summer.

As chic as this open toe sandal and sock combination looks now in the pages of Vogue, it’s a styling trick I’m?leaving very firmly in my past. I’ve decided the chicest way to?navigate those bright, but chilly May mornings is with a pair of boots. Not your trustworthy biker or go-to Chelsea, however?- they’re too?industrial looking for summer and black is too heavy (unless the leather is perforated). This season calls for a boot that’s neater in shape and lighter in shade. Here are eight?of the best.