A Midwest Staple

There are only a few months throughout the year when boots are not often seen in Minnesota, and throughout the midwest.  A local TV station recently aired a fashion segment focusing on "transitioning to fall" and each of the models, both male and female, were wearing some version of a low cut boot. 

Heels and Chains - pencil and .8 black Micron marker on 300 series Strathmore mixed-media paper.  Click on image to enlarge. 

The "booty" had a stacked heel long, wide-leg pants, a stiletto heel with leggings, a wedge with a pencil skirt and a traditional "cowboy-boot-like" heel with trousers for men. 

Heels and Chains - pencil, .8 black Micron marker, and Faber-Castille brush top markers on 300 series Strathmore mixed-media paper.  Click on image to enlarge. 

A couple of the women's styles also had embellishments, as seen here, with chains, linked rhinestones, or some combination.  The host of the runway show kept emphasizing the versatility of the short boot for work or office, evening attire or plan. 

Heels and Chains - pencil, .8 black Micron marker, Faber-Castille brush top markers, and FW acrylic ink on 300 series Strathmore mixed-media paper.  Click on image to enlarge. 

As with many fashion trends, it seems there is a cyclical pattern with only a few minor tweaks to distinguishing 1970's wear from 2015's wear.  In this particular booty, for example, the main difference is the heel shape.  If you were able to look directly at the bottom of the sole, you would see that the heel is actually "U' shaped and has a silver plate to proclaim the designer across the lower back. 

Heels and Chains - pencil, .8 black Micron marker, Faber-Castille brush top markers, and FW acrylic ink on 300 series Strathmore mixed-media paper.  Click on image to enlarge. 

The wearing of a designer or manufacturer is also a new component that was not present in the 70's.  In fact, in the late 60's it was considered inappropriate to identify the designer or manufacturer of any item and many scoffed at the presumptions practice of the big 3 auto makers to identify their cars by both make and model.

It seems unlikely that the interest in wearing names will go away.  Sports figures and celebrities have helped build the label portion of marking to new heights.  It will be interesting to see what aspect of externally branding individual attire cycles around in the next rotation.