Designer's Edit: Boots This Season
Every season starts with a mood before it starts with a shoe. This time I landed on rebellion: the fights, the movements, and the music that shaped the world we live in now. Five boots carry that thread through the collection, two new silhouettes born from it, and three staples that have earned their place by simply refusing to go out of style.
Here's my take on all five.
The Moto keeps its go-to shape: full-grain leather, a low square toe, a heavy Vibram sole built to take a beating. The staple stays the staple: Black Pull-up, tough and rugged, the kind of leather that only gets better with age. Then I pushed the contrast further. I wanted something softer to sit against all that ruggedness, so alongside the pull-up comes a new Hairy Suede, in a classic sand colorway, butter-soft, warm, and a direct foil to the chunky combat sole underneath. Proof the boot can hold two moods at once. To me, that contrast is the whole point: I'd throw a leather jacket over it every time and let the boot carry the weight, then keep the bottom wide and light so nothing fights it.
All versions ride on Vibram outsoles and YKK zippers, durability and candor built in. Don't let these sit pretty. Wear them, scuff them, balm them. The more they move, the better they get.
This season's theme is rebellion, something worth standing up for, whatever that might be. I spent a lot of time looking back at the fights and movements that shaped the world as we know it, and one name kept resurfacing: Jimmy. Jimmy Hendrix, Jimmy Cliff, Jimmy Page, Jim Morrison. It had to be a boot, and it had to have attitude.
Meet Jimmee, a brand new silhouette built with exactly that in mind. Classic rock 'n' roll proportions, a perfectly squared toe, and just a little extra height on the heel. It's built in the same Black Pull-up as the Moto, made to age with grace and look better beaten up than brand new. The Hairy Suede version is my nod to Jimmy Cliff specifically: soft where you'd expect hard, with just as much bite. I want to see it under a soft wool blazer and wide, light denim, nothing too sharp on top, let the boot be the loudest thing in the room.
A Cuban boot has been on my wishlist for a while, this season felt like the right time, the right vibe. Joee is the new silhouette that answers it: a proper Cuban heel, cut for comfort you can actually wear all day. In classic brown suede, it's the toned-down version, quiet, easy, the one you reach for without thinking. Then there's the twist: metal studs set into butter-soft tumbled leather, contrast built right into the material.
I'd keep everything else out of its way, a plain tee, sharp pleated trousers, and let the heel do the talking.
Some boots don't need reinventing, they just need to keep showing up.
The Officer and the Officer Chelsea are back this season for the same reason they've always been: they stand the test of time. Good staples that fit every occasion, whatever the season's theme happens to be.
The Officer takes the lace-up out of uniform and into everyday life: Polido leather, memory foam, Vibram grip underfoot. Looks sharp with tailoring, looks sharper when it's scuffed. The Chelsea carries the same DNA in a cleaner shape: born in Victorian England, recharged by the mods of the '60s, always balancing utility with style. My favourite way to wear either is against a relaxed plaid overshirt with sharp, tailored black trousers underneath, one loose layer, one clean line. Pair either one against heavy contrast, or lean into tonal dressing, they'll do more than you bargained for either way.
Five boots, one thread running through them: built to be worn, not admired from a shelf.
Three staples that already know how to show up, two new names about to prove they
belong. Whichever one you reach for, my instruction is the same: wear them in, and let
them show it.
