How to wear ankle boots

It doesn’t matter if you wear biker boots, shoe boots or weird clog-boot things, just make sure you keep them short and sweet

Not so long ago, ankle boots were little more than a bland compromise in the great declamatory drama that is fashion — something you reached for when your fabulous knee boots wouldn’t quite do up over your trousers, or your ballet pumps seemed a bit too flimsy to withstand the blast of winter. Then came Louboutin and Alaïa, with their pumped-up prices and fancy, souped-up designs, and the ankle boot emerged as a statement in its own right.

Shoe-boots, sandal-boots, shoe-boot- clog-things, bondage, centurion, Worzel Gummidge . . . the ingenious permutations appear to be endless, because as skirts — and, for that matter, trousers — get shorter, the eye requires something to provide a bit of interest on that long expanse of leg.


There are a few crucial points to bear in mind if you go ankle-boot-shoe-sandal- clog shopping this autumn. The first is not to listen to anyone who tells you that they’re ugly, even if that someone is yourself. I don’t think I’m giving too many secrets away when I say that not too many years ago the entire fashion desk at The Times abhorred the shoe-boot, deeming it the greatest enemy to leg enhancement since the jam doughnut. Now we love them. This is not us being fickle. It is us being open-minded and (after a season or two of feeling completely left out) fearless.

Other considerations: colour, practicality, versatility, warmth . . . if you want all four then the biker boot is hard to beat. It’s especially fashionable this winter, but it’s also a classic that can be worn with drainpipes and dresses. Moreover, it looks better the more beaten-up it is (not polishing boots is cruelty to leather, however) so in investment terms it’s hard to beat.

If you wanted a second pair, something with a medium heel and platform and cut low at the ankle to maximise leg length should do the trick when you are aiming for a more glamorous look. The lower cut means that it will work with any skirt as well as trousers. These boots look particularly good with bare legs (it doesn’t matter if they’re pale).

If you’re concerned about cold feet, or the boots rubbing, you can slip on a pair of ankle socks — it looks fine, I promise — and work a sort of Maggie-Gyllenhaal- in-Secretary look for, oh, another two or three weeks before that lovely, bone-gnawing damp — or hypothermia — kicks in.


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* Pictures: 14 of the best ankle boots



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