I couldn't believe my luck finding these rain boots at the Goodwill. They weren't true over boots as there's no room for shoes, but I was still happy to have them. I've been coveting a pair of clear rain boots since the early 70's when I would be denied my heart's desire from the display at DeWitt's shoe store every August when it was time to buy school shoes. I wanted the pink boots. I didn't need the matching umbrella and rain hat. I would have been thrilled just to have the boots, but I think the alert reader already knows that never happened. Instead I came home with the same Buster Brown shoes year after year until old Mr. DeWitt finally keeled over and we had to buy my shoes at TurnStyle instead. It wasn't like the boots would have been impracical-it rains quite a lot in Chicago. Anyway, the people I lived with didn't think I needed anything but the bare minimum in life whether it was medical attention, dentistry, or adequate food so it is hardly a surprise the yearned for boots remained just that.
I grabbed these boots so fast off the thrift shore shelf you'd think I spotted Dior or something. I shoved a foot inside-it fit! Like Cinderella's glass slipper, and I danced off to the register to pay for my boots happy in the knowledge that eventually, even if it takes 50 years, everything shows up in the thrift store. Sure, they weren't pink, but as an adult I prefer brown anyway.
I waited through summer for rain, but it was autumn before a rain boot-worthy day arrived. I pulled on the right boot and then...another right boot. Oh. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away but I wasn't ready to hand it over! It wasn't
that obvious that anyone would notice unless they were wearing the boots. The best I can figure, someone bought two pair and donated one set. I like to think there's someone in Omaha walking around with two left feet and some rainy day we'll meet and exchange boots, setting the whole exchange right. I didn't wait all these decades to just give up at the first pinched toe. No, I'm the determined sort of fool that will wear my boots until I trip and face plant in a puddle.
Honestly, you can't tell!
The rest of the outfit was pretty nifty too. Finding vintage knits in good condition is always exciting. Finding vintage knits in my size that don't cling to every lump and bump of my middle aged body is even better. Obviously, this sort of thing fits better with a full slip, which I had in a perfectly matching peach colour because...middle aged, Midwesterner. I was happy enough to abandon girdles but you'll never get my slips!
The photos are a bit washed out. The true colour is a pale peach. I also had a perfectly matching lippy which makes me think I should win some sort of prize, or at the very least, have a trophy made. I've never been what you'd call an over-achiever (or terribly ambitious for that matter) but I know where my skills lie.
...and if you think those rain boots are going anywhere but on my feet you can forget it. Eventually, if I wait long enough, I'll find the other foot.
14 comments:
;-DDDD
ignoring the left/right problem this is a fabulous look!! love the peach with all the amber around!
as a kid i wanted clear rain boots too - but without any color was my fav.... no way to get such though as my parents had the same thinking as yours. and i wore equal dull brown shoes most of my childhood - and very ill fitting, hard as steel, patent leather mary janes for "events"......ouch.
xxxx
They're fab! Love the colour. That peachy top is so pretty on you, too.
We call our waterproof footwear Wellington boots and the ones you put on over your shoes, galoches. After 30 years of wearing vintage wellies I've gone completely mad and bought a pair of hand crafted Scandinavian rubber boots after becoming completely obsessed with them - trouble is they're such a thing of beauty I'm going to be scared to wear them! xxx
mwhaha, I wore a pair of striped espadrilles a whole summer and both of them were a left shoe. They were a bargain, obviously, and I grabbed them without trying both of them, which is something that my grandma always told me to do. Grandmas know best.
Anyway, you look gorgeous in your peach dress, such a pretty knit!. Lovely accessories too. And I love that you have a matchy lipstick! fabulousness!
besos
They look fine, nobody would guess.
It would be a wonderful moment if you actually did run into someone with the other set.... JanF
You should get a prize for matching your puppy to your pink slip!! Hah! Loved the 2 right foot boot story, you really can’t tell they aren’t a “normal” pair of boots.
Vintage knitwear rocks!! I cherish my vintage Hong Kong made lambswool sweaters. They were lucky finds at the thrift store (I always buy them from the men’s section).
It’s terrible that you were so deprived when you were young {{{hugs}}}
Happy thrifting ;)
Had a good chuckle over your boot story! At least it can't be said that you have two left feet! Who knows, the two pairs might have been donated at the same time, and the left pair sold already. In that case, it might be a matter of time before the left pair wearing person, who might very well have been waiting for a rainy day as well, finds out and re-donates the boots. It's just a thought. A far-fetched one, but still. Love the knit dress and that brooch is absolutely divine! xxx
The peachy knit is absolutely gorgeous on you! It's not many that look perfect in both red and a pale peach, I shouldn't think. I always wanted those ladybird wellies when I was little, but it was argued that my little brothers probably wouldn't like them, so I had to have plainer ones that could be passed down. I think that was my mum's puritan streak - we could just as well have passed them down to my little girl cousins round the corner!
Love, love, love the boots
I've been ignoring sizes at the thrift shoppes for years -- never thought to ignore right/left designations until I found a pair of low heeled, strappy suede shows in a mustard gold that was SUCH an improvement over the boring black patent I'd been wearing with that skirt for years.... And do I care that when I put them on, I discovered both shoes button to the left? Wear those boots and go "singin' in the rain"!
Not much use for rain boots in my native California but I wanted them anyway!
I think that's hilarious- luckily rain boots aren't exacting in fit. Who knows? Maybe a pair of matching lefties will turn up at another thrift store?
Love that crochet peach dress with the amber accessories! What's the name of that lippy?
@Beate
Patent leather Mary Janes were...awful. Thank goodness as adults we can buy stylish shoes.
@Vix
Galoshes are sometimes called, "Rubbers" here which is also slang for a condom!
@Senora Allnut
Yes, grandmas do know best! I feel better knowing I'm not alone in wearing my two odd shoes.
@Jan
If I ever see someone wearing the same boots it will be an awkward conversation with me asking, "Pardon me, I know this is kind of personal but..."
@Thrifty Parka
I think the worst deprivation was being denied rain boots...and the dyed blue rabbit fur (actually might have been squirrel, I can't remember) coat I saw in Vogue around 1975.
@Ann
Thank you. I can only laugh at the boots, but I am totally going to keep wearing them.
@Radostin
Today the boys would just go ahead and wear the ladybirds. I only had a sister, but we were over a decade apart and I did NOT enjoy wearing her 50's hand-me-downs as a child!
@KB
Thank you! My feet haven't fallen off from wearing them, so I'll keep wearing them.
@beth
Exactly. No point giving up on great shoes over a little imperfection like that ;)
@ Bibi
The lipstick was from one of those cheap drugstore holiday sets a couple years ago-isn't it fab? The matte lippies don't usually work for me, but this one wasn't dry at all. I have serious regret I didn't stock up. It is very close to that super-beige Loreal one called Tawny or something like that. Anyway, it was a lucky find.
Oh, I hope the other boots turn up... but even more, I hope the pink ones come your way!
It took me years to get over my ingrained childhood habit of having one or two pairs of shoes that were bland enough to go with everything. Even now, pretty shoes seem tremendously indulgent (but I'm gonna indulge!).
Oh no!!
With anyone else this would be a problem but you've tackled it head on - or should that be foot on? Anyway, I couldn't tell and as my mother would have said 'a galloping horse would never see it'!
The knit wear is fabulous on you and of course you had a peach slip to go underneath it. I have lots of half slips but recently found a nice knee length one and am looking forward to wearing it.
I love how the rain boots shine...
Have a fab week, Goody.
Oh my dear! I would have LOVED to have 50s handmedowns as a child! All I did have from that decade was a knee-length green dress that my mother wore when she was a little bridesmaid. How I loved it! The handmedowns I had before the age of ten were mostly from my two big-girl-cousins, who had an American set of grandparents who sent and brought them over clothes that were always quite different from English kids clothes, so exciting!
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