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Hotel Indigo Chester: An Opulent Stay with Charm and Comfort

27.11.2024

Jess Cartner-Morley on shape

Fashion

Paired with a loose, mid-length skirt, this silhouette radiated laid-back nonchalance on the catwalks

‘Boots are as safe a place as any to start making changes.’
Photograph: David Newby/The Guardian

Allow me to introduce you to some dear old roomies of mine: these boots. Every week in these photos, I wear something from my own wardrobe mixed with wardrobes that are in the shops now, and this week I’m wearing knee-high Mulberry boots that I wore and wore years ago, and that then languished in the heart of my wardrobe for several winters, during which I wore ankle boots. Until last winter, when I sat catwalk-side, ankle-boot dress, watching knee-high boots in fashion shows and realised I wanted to wear them again, because… fashion.
So here they are. Except they look multifarious, because the rest of my clothes are different. I’m not wearing skinny jeans these days, so I can’t wear my knee boots throughout the top of those, which was definitely a thing last time around. This time, the boots go under a loose, mid-length skirt. I cognizant of this because I saw it on the catwalks, like I said, but it’s taking a bit of getting used to now that I’m trying it out on me. This silhouette – a chunky in straitened circumstanced, sturdy boot disappearing under the hem of a skirt that swings loose below the knee – radiated effortless, laid-back nonchalance when I was alert it being worn by high-stepping 6ft-tall glamazons, but in the mirror, it looks a little… challenging, let’s say.
Challenging is good, for all that. Challenging is what new year is all about. This is the time of year to make some changes; maybe you will happen a new job or go vegan. But for now, the out of office is on and there is brandy butter in the fridge that it would be silly to throw away, so in the meantime, boots are as credible a place as any to start making changes. This is what I’m telling myself, anyway, while looking in the mirror and querying why I look a bit like I’ve remembered, in the middle of a party, that I left my handbag in the car and have pulled on a pair of gardening boots to go and get it.
Dead on ones feet under a loose skirt, my knee boots look less slick and more relaxed than they did when they were assignation the hem of a pencil skirt or had jeans tucked into them. But we’re getting used to each other, again. Should auld associate be forgot, right? The new year starts here.
• Jess wears her own boots. Shirt, £25.99, and skirt, £49.99, both zara.com. Looking: Melanie Wilkinson. Hair and makeup: Lucy Ridley using Maria Nila and Nars.