Have you seen women walking around campus in rubber rain boots, even on that rare day in Rochester when it’s not raining? After seeing the boots, do you then apprehensively run to the nearest window, sure that the weather has taken a turn for the worst? If so, you haven’t heard about the latest trend that’s hitting campuses across the nation. Put simply, rain boots are the new Uggs.
The plastic rain boot is a new look that brings back fond memories of splashing through puddles in elementary school. Our mothers used to send us outside adorned in these boots, but as we got older, we cast them aside because being dry wasn’t “cool” anymore. I’ll admit, now I get my fair share of smirks from my parents when I put those boots back on.
The boot’s style brings us back even further than our childhood years, all the way back to the seventies. The era of go-go girls with brightly colored boots and short dresses in funky patterns is coming back with a vengeance. The rain boot combines the two classic looks of the go-go girl: funky patterns and rubber boots.
The trend puts a spin on this classic footwear option, so there are plenty of styles to choose from. You have a choice of candy-colored stripes to rubber-ducky print to plain old school bus yellow. I wouldn’t recommend wearing them to a formal dance – although I will admit it’s tempting – but they go great with casual wear for school or even the frat quad on a Friday night. On a school day, a pair of jeans tucked into pink striped boots would go great with a cozy pink sweater and a scarf. For the weekend, when you want to look a little dressier, a skirt goes well with a pair of rain boots and matching tank top.
This comfortable and practical style of shoe can be worn under pants, but that defeats the two main goals of wearing rain boots: being stylish and keeping your pants dry.
That’s right ladies – the fashion world has finally caught on and thought about us poor Northerners forced to trudge through rain and snow, suffering through the inevitable soaking wet pant. You see, being wet and miserable is not cute. Never once have I been complimented on the way my pants look when they are soaked and dragging on the ground. But with a pair of rain boots, you can tuck your pants into them, leaving the bottoms of your pants dry and warm. When you get home, you avoid having to change and add to the always present pile of laundry, since your pants are still dry.
Finally, we can be warm, comfortable and trendy at the same time. The first great achievement in footwear was Uggs, and now we can stop wearing that same pair of boots every day and put on a pair of rain boots. Even flats are back in fashion, proving that women have at long last turned to the male designers, entreating them to stop putting us through the pain of a long day in too-high heels.
Even celebrities are tromping around in this latest fashion, proving that, like the rest of us, any opportunity to be comfortable and stylish is always welcome. From our favorite way-too-skinny party girl, Lindsay Lohan, to celebrity moms and their kids modeling nauseatingly matched boots, the world of Hollywood has given license to the new look. Comfort is in style. I think the next step is to bring back footy pajamas.
Myers is a member of
the class of 2009.
