Top Trend: Red Boots

Buckle up, Dorothy, because whether it’s in Kansas or Oz, you are definitely leaving your ruby slippers behind in favor of a pair of glorious red boots for fall-winter 2017.

At fashion shows, if there’s one absolute privilege front row guests have, over the rest of the industry and even other show attendees, it is the chance to actually see the shoes walk the runway. It’s a fact, a good shoe can tie up a whole look, and in latest seasons we’ve seen designers use twice as much imagination to deliver highly Instagram-worthy footwear – as we all know a 10-minute show isn’t worth going to if you can’t get a good “InstaStory” out of it.

And let’s face it, a high-heeled, shiny red boot is a great way to kick off any season, whatever else you’re in the mood for.

Missoni

Fendi

Isabel Marant

Watching the long, lean, patent leather-covered legs walking the Fendi runway, one could easily imagine Karl Lagerfeld and Silvia Venturini Fendi drawing inspiration from the 2012 Broadway musical Kinky Boots. Other Pusses-in-glamorous-Boots would look to Isabel Marant, Miu Miu and Marni for similarly high pursuits.

Elsewhere, while there was less stage glitz, there were plenty to snap up, from shiny red heels to burgundy to velvet thigh-high boots. In the full-on red collection presented by the interim in-house design team at Givenchy, the red boot is all about graphic shapes and layered effects, like one worn over neoprene high-waisted trousers. If you look for that classic rain boot, whether knee-high or ankle boot, go for Jil Sander or Missoni. Clean lines, pop of colors, success.

Marni

Miu Miu

Givenchy

Because “these boots are made for walking”, there is that outdoors feeling in the Coach 1941 collection and the chunky, furry sneakers – just like in the Naughties when unlaced skater shoes were hot.

For a more traditional red boot game, Tod’s offers a laced-up, high-heeled boot made for the girl going on an adventure. We can’t help but think that those are certainly the shoes of a modern day Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. Definitely time to click your crimson boots together.

Maxime Der Nahabedian

Initially trained to become a specialized translator from English and German to French, Maxime has been writing for fashion and lifestyle publications for about three years. First as a Managing Editor for the quarterly fashion & art magazine Crash where he worked on ten issues, then most recently for the French online media Saywho.fr. His topics of choice go from fashion shows and exhibitions reviews to interviews with various cultural figures (Beth Ditto, Lilly Collins, Aitor Throup).