The Perfect Boots

So I am still singing "Red and Black" this morning and I will admit to downloading it from iTunes, along with "One More day" , but Les Miserables is not the only movie that I saw recently in a movie theater. One day last week (it was Wednesday if I am not wrong) I was feeling depressed and under the weather (literally, it was raining and gloomy) so I decided to go and see "Silver Linings Playbook" on a whim to lift my spirits. I really liked the movie and it worked as a pick-me-up but I won't bother you with another movie review today as I don't want to alienate the readers who are here for the fashion (but if you have questions about the movie or you have seen it and you want to share your impressions leave a comment). I want to talk about the outfit that I wore to the movies that day.

You have probably noticed that I rarely wear knits in winter and by knits I mean knit dresses. I only have two and it is because I hate wearing tights and while a majority of ladies find knit dresses very easy to wear, I find the whole thing very complicated. I seem to never find the right tights and even with the right tights there is the problem of the footwear. As you know I am petite and I don't like how I look in tights and flats as I always had muscular calves that are accentuated by the tights and without a heel I just feel stomp. Wearing pumps during the day simply doesn't happen in my life so I end up wearing pants most of the time in winter (the same goes for pencil skirt and it is generally too cold to wear minis).
As I said the other day it was raining so I had an excuse to put on one of my few knit dresses because I was going to wear my rainboots, which are by L'Aigle and look like equestrian boots. A new pair of boots to wear with skirts and dresses was on my buy list this fall (as every fall) but I have a love/hate relationship with boots. While I love them on other people, most of the time I don't like how they look on me. Ideally I wanted a heel, but a walkable one and not a stiletto; I also dislike any sort of hardware on boots (including blingy zippers). So while I love shopping, as you know, I find shopping for boots a chore and as a  result I gave up on the task (as you will probably remember I bought a pair of Enzo Angiolini that I think were amazing for the price but I ended up returning because they looked too much like my rainboots and did nothing for my legs being completely flat). I also didn't know exactly what color I was looking for. I have an old pair of black Nine West in tumbled leather that I don't wear anymore for some reason but is still in good condition and my rainboots are black so another black pair seemed superfluous. I have too little brown in my wardrobe to pair with dark brown boots, so that leaves cognac (that I like but doesn't go very well with black and can be a bit too sporty) or a more "trendy" color like burgundy that can easily fall out of fashion. After spending hours and hours on various websites trying to decide if this pair or that pair were worth a try but , I decided that maybe I am not a boot person and moved on. 

Then one day I was walking on Madison and I saw a young lady wearing an amazing pair of boots (actually the entire outfit was quintessentially French chic and I am almost sure that she was French). They were classic but sexy at the same time, the heel was  manageable and straight, the color wasn't the usual black nor a dark brown nor a cognac but a brown bordering on burgundy. Leather looked amazing and no buckles or zippers. The funny thing is, I knew exactly what they were, for spending so much time on the website, or at least I thought I knew.
Once home I opened the computer and typed in "Stuart Weitzman Toujours". I had noticed these boots when I was looking for a pair because they looked gorgeous but they were uber-expensive (as almost all the Stuart Weitzman boots) and the shaft was said to be very high and fit very snug around the calves (my weak spot) so I had never really considered them even on sale. They were now half the price so I decided to give them a try. I was actually very surprised that they hadn't sold out immediately for that price but I took advantage of the situation and ordered them in two sizes since the reviews said that they run big. I ordered them on Zappos (here) because of the easiness of the free shipping and free returns but they are actually even less expensive on Piperline.com if you can still find your size.
I didn't expect them to work because pull-on boots never work on me and because of the supposedly high shaft but when they arrived I was actually surprised that I could put them on easily and that they didn't hit ackwardly the cap or the middle of my knee. They just looked beautiful and I felt like my legs just had plastic surgery. This was the 6H, which is half a size down from my regular size. The 7 was considerably bigger and the shaft at least half an inch higher and just didn't look so good (I was also feeling a bit unstable in them because they were too loose at the ankle). Granted, I can't wear them with my pants tucked in but I didn't buy them for that purpose, I bought them to wear with my knits and skirts.

Demonstration. This is the dress that I wore to the movie. It is a Talbots wool dress actually that I picked up when they had a crazy sale in the summer. I think I paid less than $12 for this dress so I thought that it was worth the final sale risk and the fact that I probably wasn't going to wear it that much. It is one of the two knit dresses that I was talking you about, the other being a Hilfiger in a camel colorway that I bought last year and barely wore once because it is very thick and warm and last year we didn't have a cold winter (I will wear it soon).
Let's not make a big deal out of the fact that without the belt this dress almost hits my ankles (really, Talbots, this is supposed to be a XS PETITE?), I think it looks terrific with my new boots:

See how the shaft keeps going straight on the leg and doesn't open up at the top? That's what I love in these boots and the reason why they are so flattering. This is typical of pull-ons but as I said it is difficult for me to find a pull-on pair that I can actually pull-on, usually they are made for models with the thinnest calves (not that these are big but the leather is so supple that it stretches out a bit. Also the fact that they are fully lined helps):

The other thing that I had in mind when I bought them is that knit skirt that I bought in Italy and just love but didn't know what to wear with, in terms of shoes. Well, now I know:

I can say that I finally found the perfect boots for me, they are exactly what I wanted and they are exceptionally well made so that they should last a lifetime (if I don't run in the mud in them of course). I guess I should thank that lady on the street. Now if only we could go back to normal winter temps, I could start wearing them with my skirts!

Are you still looking for the perfect pair of boots? Anybody has the Stuart Weitzman "Toujours"?