Shopping for boots when your calves aren't a standard size ... and how I found a pair

I don't know why, but I've never been that crazy about boots. This seems odd, because I tend to be completely nuts about anything ridiculously expensive, and the average pair of boots is ridiculously more expensive than the average pair of shoes. I can't really explain how I overlooked this opportunity to blow wads of cash. It might be because I have muscular legs, and once I put on a few too many pounds, most boots refuse to zip over my calves.

Anyway, a few days ago, J. Crew was offering 25 percent off everything on their site. I decided to forgive J. Crew's stylists for the insane combinations of crap they put together for their catalogs and actually buy something. Maybe.

So I asked whether anyone out there on the internet had anything to tell me about J. Crew's wide calf boots. And answer came there none, except an inquiry from blackbird, who, like my friend Joke, likes to remind me from time to time that I am not actually deformed and should perhaps not abandon hope of fitting into something in a normal size. (Joke is usually referring to The Balcony, but the point stands.)

So then the J. Crew sale was over, and I was ready to abandon hope all over again.

But then I got an email offering me some great savings at ShopBop, a site I'm usually not even aware of. But they had these Stuart Weitzman boots.

Stuart Weitzman is a brand that sort of flies under the radar. The shoes are very high quality, and they do narrow and wide widths. I've had good luck with Stuart Weitzman shoes in the past. The last seems to suit my foot, even when I buy the normal- rather than the wide-width styles.

I'd heard that Stuart Weitzman's 5050 boots (the shaft is half leather, half elastic) had a lot of fans. The Arlington boot also has some elastic in the back. Not as much as the 5050, but enough, I hoped, to get around my calves.

So I ordered them, and they showed up today. I got my normal size, a 9M, and they're wide enough across the metatarsal. And the calf fits perfectly. And the black elastic is is NOT HIDEOUS, I swear.

Stuart Weitzman "Arlington" knee boot

I'd show you the boots on, except as soon as I tried them on, I fell madly in love, and now it's too dark to get a decent picture of them. But imagine me sitting with my legs straight out, crossed at the ankle. From time to time I move my toes or flex my feet and hear that lovely creaking sound that new leather makes.

The back view, showing the elastic

So if you have difficulty wearing knee-high boots, whether your calves are too narrow or too wide, I'd suggest you check out boots like this.

I also suggest you shop at Zappos. I say this because Zappos includes a lot of helpful information about the boots they sell, including the shaft height and circumference. And there are helpful reviews--in the case of really popular styles, like Stuart Weitzman's 5050 boot, 72 of them. 

Also, quite a few of the Stuart Weitzman boots are currently on sale.