Feature photo of James Dean
I will be the first to tell you that I openly wear my ethnicity on my feet, and quite well if I do say so myself. I am one to embrace the common usage of often referred to by gringos as “cowboy boots” or “shit kickers”. Let’s take a brief look at the history of this utilitarian, stylish, too often over looked aspect of men’s fashion. In the beginning men had very few options when it came to foot coverings, it was sandals or skin, then some genius came around and said, “wow these sandals don’t last very long and don’t do shit about protecting me from snake bites, or irritation from this god damned horse hair, not to mention that I am a grown man in sandals”, thus the boot was invented like so many other things out of necessity. Since that day in let’s call it 900 b.c.Respectable men all over the world have been sporting botas.
Personally I have been wearing cowboy boots since I was right out of the womb, one of the benefits of having the privilege of being born into la raza cosmica, and to this day I still own several pairs as variety is indeed the spice of life. So you may be asking yourself while reading this, what’s the point here? Are you trying to say that you have some sort of fetish or something? Are you some sort of boot salesmen? No and No, I am postulating that the Boot specifically the cowboy boot is an essential part to any modern Latino man’s wardrobe. It showcases your identity, masculinity, and practicality. A good pair of boots will last you several years as well as goes with mostly anything with the exception of baggy jeans (but those really dont go with anything and make you look like a knob) , but most importantly they always make you look and feel like a badass. If you have a problem believing this I challenge you to tell Vicente Fernandez, various biker gangs, and El Mariachi to their faces that they are anything but, there is a 90% chance that you will have a new orifice as well as a new perspective.
If you are reading this there is a good chance that you are in Chicago and or in the metro area, if you are interested in getting yourself a pair I recommend going to your local Mexican neighborhood (pilsen,little Village) and find a good local vendor, the benefit of this being that this purchase is like no other shoe and will require that you are in person to try them out otherwise you are liable for much discomfort, however if you are the not leaving the house type zappos has an interesting selection and so do these guys .