Oxygen "Rhone" and Dr Martens "Aaliyah"

[cimorene]

I don't know what's going on with the sole and sculpting in the first pair, but I think I like it.

Comments

[laughingrat]

Geez, the Oxygen boot looks more like a DM than the DM does. Sigh. That company's goin' down the tubes.

[cimorene]

They've had a secondary line of shoes that are not workboots for at least ten years or so, I'd say, and the fairly simple women's zip boots have been everywhere the last few years, even on fairly mainstream websites. They fill an important niche, too, I think, sort of halfway between El Naturalista and over-trendy or over-femmey boots with too-thin soles or stacked heels, in a time when simple smooth-shafted colored leather without weird embellishments is decreasing in the onslaught of Ugg-imitators and bad 90's and 80's flashbacks. It's nice that they do it with good construction, flexible rubber soles, and some sort of traction on the sole. They haven't decreased their output of classic DM boots in favor of these - far from it; they've brought back vintage styles, introduced new colors and patterns, and collaborated with designers of various kinds in the last few years. If you want to say they're "going down the tubes" in the sense that they were sold whenever-it-was and moved most production out of the UK, then okay. But the mere presence in the lineup of non-workboots certainly isn't evidence of such.

[laughingrat]

Oh--the last time I shopped for DMs, a couple of years ago, I felt like there was a distinct lack of simpler, older-style options in favor of those with platform soles and a more "feminine" styling. I can't remember where I shopped; it might have been their actual website, come to think of it, and not another retailer.

[brownbetty]

Oooh, I like the criss-cross-y-ness of the second.

[cimorene]

Yeah, likewise. Gives a nice rock'n'roll twist to the more streamlined style.