Saturday, September 6, 2008

The Dr. Is In

The last time I laced up a pair of Dr Martens, I was in the seventh grade. I had two pairs - suede blue low tops as well as the ankle boots...in an incredibly 1990s, loud and outrageous flower pattern.



I spent $114 on them, using a gift certificate to Nordstrom's that I received for my Bat Mitzvah. I had been eying them for months, but in 1995, $114 was a lot of money to spend, especially on a pair of shoes. That's right, it has been 13 years since my 13 yr-old self slipped her feet into those clunky boots that, despite their ugliness, were extremely desirable.

When I was wearing my flowered Docs, I thought I was the coolest. Well, as cool as any awkward seventh grader could be, I guess. But the trend faded fast and pretty soon my shoes were so out that they became nothing but a surface on which dust collected in the back of my closet. Eventually, the blue shoes were donated to charity, but the thought of discarding my flowered boots made me sad and nostalgic. I convinced myself that I would wear them again, hoping that maybe they would come back into fashion. But time passed, the dust layers thickened, and I had yet to wear my British imports.

After graduating college and moving to New York, every time I came home, I was asked what I wanted to do with my shoes. (My parents are constantly looking to clean out my closet so it is no longer a shrine to my middle and high school self.) And every time that my mother questioned my reasoning for keeping them (Are you ever going to wear them again?), I insisted that one day I would feel cool enough to do so.

Finally, after picking up the September issue of Teen Vogue (true, I am no longer a teenager, but the looks in Teen Vogue are far more accessible - yet barely so! - than those in Vogue), and reading their Fall A - Z style guide, I learned of the fact that Dr. Martens were making a comeback. This realization brought me nothing but hope, and that perhaps I would at least be given the push to clean off my boots and make some space for them in my New York City closet.

In further attempts to assuage my fears of stepping out in such statement boots, I scoured the internet to see if I could find any reference to my Docs. Unfortunately, Dr. Martens no longer produces the style I own, but I did manage to find a few ebayers that were selling my exact pair. According to one seller, my shoes were worn by Sienna Miller in Nylon, and are rare enough to be auctioned at the buy it now price of $300. While this does not tempt me to try to sell my vintage kicks, it further inspires me to take the plunge, bring them out of their thirteen year retirement, and back into wardrobe rotation.

While the weather is not yet brisk enough to take my Dr. Martens out for a test drive, I am eagerly awaiting the day that I walk out on the New York City streets rocking my flowered boots, some sort of black dress and tights ensemble, finished with my new fabulous leather motorcycle jacket. I have recently been feeling the urge to update my current style, and I think these shoes will ultimately be the prescription that will cure my fashion rut.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

do they smell floral as well? scratch n'sniff fashions are making a comeback.

Thomas said...

They're a little "Clarissa Explains It All" so I wouldn't wear them to work, but I'm totally for them as casual footwear.

P.S. This "word verification" looks a lot like those awful freshman-year Helen Keller joke pubchlines.

Anonymous said...

so thats where you got your halloween costume idea...do it!