When shopping for authentic yet affordable styles, go vintage

Kidnapped by Style: Novelty boxers: The forgotten layer that can be hot or...not

This week, I present a list I've created. It begins with stripes and solids, flowers and dots, plain and plaid, then moves to penguins and polar bears, darts, dartboards, and dogs, and finally, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." The patterns can be camouflaged or even glow-in-the-dark. Many patterns may be commonly seen on a wide variety of clothing, from button-downs to waffle tees. For some, the list can go on to include smiley faces and "witty" sayings like, "Hold It Up High," "Wanna Pet My Monkey?" and "I Am The King!" When the list moves on to these other, more imaginative elements, there can be no doubt as to what the list catalogues: men's underwear. More specifically, boxers.

Kidnapped by Style: "The Satorialist": Reclaiming the power of innovation for all

Sometimes confessions are necessary to move forward, so I will go ahead and get this out of the way: I am not an innovator, at least not all of the time. Sure, there are times when I'll put an outfit together that no one else might think of (and, admittedly, sometimes with good reason), but there are other times when I look for inspiration as fervently as everyone else. At such times, images from magazines, newspapers, and news sites come to mind. What was Colin Firth wearing in In Bruges, and why did it seem to fit his character so well? What was Michelle Obama wearing on election night? Was it from J. Crew? However, the age of information offers more specific portals to sartorial thought.

Kidnapped by Style

When shopping for authentic yet affordable styles, go vintage

February 6, 2009

All of a sudden, I had an urge to purchase a pair of cowboy boots. I think it started the night that I watched "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" with friends—friends who insisted on wearing cowboy boots themselves while watching a movie replete with a like-booted cast. "They're awesome, and they add just a bit of height," one friend says. The last-described characteristic of the boots attracted me especially, for, dear readers, your columnist has always looked for ways to artificially increase his diminutive height. (And before you suggest heel inserts, let me tell you, I have been there. My middle school years were spent with said inserts and, unfortunately, inserts are forever tied to those painful years of life, so alas, I must move on).

In any case, I was then faced with the dilemma: how do I obtain cowboy boots? They had to be the real—stereotypical, heeled, embroidered—deal, but I would not spend more than $30 on these, I vowed. Really, these are my parameters for any article of clothing, and really, the same options appear: Online retailers, eBay, retail shops, and vintage stores. For this particular case, I didn't know (and didn't care to look for) actual retail shops selling new boots. Though I've had success in clearance sections before, I doubted that I would find anything resembling the boot I sought. So, without further ado, here's how my search went.

Online Retailers

A quick Google search yielded a slew of retailers with the word "boot" in their URLs. I picked bootbay.com and was quickly floored. As the site sorted (by default in descending order) by price, it quickly threw the "Lucchese Classic Men's Western Boots" atop the list. These alligator skin boots run for a whopping—get this—$9299.95. I had no idea alligator skin goes for so much, which is sad thinking about how the alligator meat is consequently thrown at ev ery tourist that goes through densely alligatored areas, for instance, the Florida Everglades. Bootbay.com offered its cheapest pair of boots at $75, while the largest online retailer in the world, Amazon.com, offered prices around $50 dollars.

eBay

In recent years, the sorting algorithms on eBay have gotten very good. Now, after inputting the search "cowboy boots," I can narrow down into the category of "Men's Shoes," then the size "8.5." I can even highlight multiple sizes or specify lower if I want to, and this sort of specification is available if you're searching for cars, computers, or clothing. The prices on eBay ran a pretty full spectrum between $20 and $200. Of course, the shipping for items as cumbersome as cowboy boots runs a bit more, usually around ten dollars or more, and shopping on eBay, you run the risk of being dissatisfied with the product because it is not as described, doesn't fit, or doesn't work. BUT, if you are dissatisfied, you can often sell back the item on eBay for the same price as you purchased it. Because of this, I was going to take the plunge on the $20-but-really-$30 boots. But before I did, I decided to check one last place.

Vintage Shops

(Material Objects, Portland)

This is a great little vintage shop that my roommate turned me onto my first year at Bowdoin. When he heard that I was in the market for cowboy boots, he suggested I check this place out because he'd gotten a pair there not too long ago. Material Objects is located on Congress St. just past the Maine College of Art and not far from the Old Port, and I'd gotten some great deals there in the past, including a vintage Hugo Boss sport coat for $25. On the left wall of the shop, there is a fairly large alcove devoted to shoes, and my roommate was right: a fairly large section of this alcove is devoted to cowboy boots. I saw them, felt them, tried them on. They felt right, as did the price tag of $22 (which later came down further because of the 30 percent off sale that had been going on). All told, I walked out of the shop with a two-piece brown suit, the boots, and a pair of knock-off Wayfarer sunglasses for around $50. Not bad. Check this place out.

Happily, I went home that day with my boots, and now, just as happily, my boots elicit some reactions of moderate joy, but mostly extreme sadness at my existence, and comments such as, "Why do you look like a 10-year-old stripper?" and "Why are you the way that you are?" For less than $20, I could not ask to be more satisfied.

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