When Life Calls for Boots

Dear Winona,

As I have to walk about 30 minutes total everyday in the "brisk" Canadian winter weather (as frigid as -40 somedays), I need some pretty warm winter boots. Most people revert to UGGs, but I just can't bring myself to wear them. For the past couple of years I've been using some calf-height plain suede boots, but the soles have long since worn away (meaning I will fall over if someone so much as brushes me) and the inner soles actually cause my feet to bleed. My question is whether you can suggest any UGG alternatives?

Please and Thank you,
Frostbitten Frida

Dear Frida,

Your email reminds me of my favorite Chinese proverb: "When your feet are bleeding, it's time to buy new boots."

My prescription for your problem is not exactly pretty. In fact, just the opposite. For your situation, I recommend swinging the pendulum away from pretty, all the way past UGGS, and into full-on ugly. In a follow-up email, you mentioned that these boots will mostly be for walking to and from places, so you won't be wearing them to, like, your job as an usher at the opera house. This is the perfect opportunity to go for warm, go for comfy, go for ugly, and just own it.

My favorites happen to be the ones I received for Christmas: classic Sorels.

Chic? Not quite. Warm, waterproof, comfy as hell? Yes. I've worn them almost every day since December 25th--with scrunched up jeans and wool socks, with girly dresses, with hot pink tights. Heck, their company motto is "When Life Calls for Boots"--your life is callin' for boots, homegirl!

Here are my Sorels in action (as part of an outfit that would probably result in the loss of your extremities if worn on a -40 day, but I took these pictures on the warmest, nicest day in Oregon winter history, sorry):

Warm feet are a must when fixing your hair on a bench.

Forgive the bulging belly; my Spanx were in the laundry.

Oregonians are famous for our love of North Face jackets and our lack of balance.

My outfit (which is also what I wore to my new year's party, if you were dying to know) would have been way cuter and warmer with the addition of thick, pink socks, but when I told my photographer boyfriend to hang on while I put some on, he said, "No! Let's just get this over with!" (Ah, the glamorous life of a fashion blogger...)

Still not convinced? Check out this lovely lass, who's about a hundred times more stylish than me and seems equally enamored of her warm, fuzzy footwear.

And if you still absolutely positively hate this idea, check out my other winter boot posts here and here.

Godspeed, my bloody-footed friend.

These boots of my dreams (and maybe yours?) are available at Nordstrom (yes, seriously), Zappos, and tons of other places for around a hundred bucks. Also on Ebay for $30ish. Totally. worth. it.