Boots.

When I first arrived in Belgium, I was in awe of the fashion.  I noticed that women always looked pulled together, yet it was effortless.  Even the moms that I knew stayed home, were wearing skirts with boots, or jeans with pumps.  It's not just moms at school.  It's women everywhere of all ages, in the grocery store, running errands or going about daily routines.

I let their fashion sense be contagious.  It's all about the choices.  In the morning, I choose my dark jeans over the old faded ones.  I choose any pair of jeans over (cue the embarrassed whisper: sweat pants.)  I choose an oversized sweater instead of a sweatshirt.  I choose my tall boots over my running shoes.  I throw a scarf around my neck.  I soon realized that it doesn't take that much effort and the clothes are just as comfortable.  Nothing even has to really match.  In fact, it's almost better if it doesn't.  The result is sort of a haphazard effortless fashion.  But personally, I noticed that I felt so much better about myself.  There is a confidence that comes with just taking a minute to be conscious about my appearance.  It is well worth the minute.

But sometimes I wondered.  What would happen if you put Belgian women in the throws of a Minnesota winter?  What would change about their apparel choices if they had to dress for snow and ice?  Does necessity require that fashion be sacrificed?

With this week's cold spell, I had a chance to answer my own question.  Yesterday, I made a point to look at everyone's feet.  There is the usual wide variety of boots, of course.  Suede, faux fur, etc. etc.  Most of them were fashionable, yet practical.  But I saw one kind of boot that I hadn't seen for awhile: hiking boots.  This morning I dug my own pair of hiking boots out of the storage box in the basement.  My report is that they are excellent for slippery cobblestones.  And they still look nice with my dark jeans and sweater.