The Boot Saga Has Ended

I have extraordinarily large calves (which I attribute to wearing heels during my more formative years because it certainly isn't from intensive sports), and these calves make it near impossible to find a fitting boot.

I have tried the typical solutions - the stretchy shaft variety (they shimmy down as I walk) and those labeled as "extra wide" (they don't fit either, and make me feel like a calve-giantess).

Then one day at Nordstrom's a kind sales associate, seeing my pain, kept bringing out boots until I felt like I had tried every one in the store.  The closest one to fitting was a Steve Madden slouchy black boot in a size 12 (I am a size 10).  They were not ideal, the style felt a little 80s and I was worried they wouldn't wear well.  But I was moving to Europe in a month, and I had heard it would be even more difficult to buy shoes in my size there.  They were a stop gap measure that ended up lasting almost 4 years of intensive wear. Who knew they would end up being the best cost-per-wear shoes I'd ever owned?

Similar at Steve Madden.com here

Last spring, a fatal tear developed in the toe that sent me on a boot search again.  I went back to Steve Madden, but I didn't want the slouchy style again - though passable, it just wasn't my style.  I decided to go bootless rather then settle, and figured the right pair would come into my life eventually.  (Or I could just wait for old age to start atrophying my leg muscles a bit, yes I considered this as a possible option.)

In preparing my shopping research for my Argentina trip, it dawned on me that I should try my boot hunt there.  After all, leather yardage would be plentiful and hopefully in sufficient quantity to swathe my calves.  I decided to try my luck at Arandu, a shop with its own craftsmen dedicated to the styles and customs of the Argentinian pampas/ countryside.  I liked the idea of being able to buy something not only locally made, but with an almost historical authenticity.

Upon entering the store, you are greeted with the warm smell of leather and the sight of a horse in full regalia:   

Polo and cowboy related items crowded the shelves - it's clear this is a shop for active horse-people who will use and abuse their gear.  Ralph Lauren may cater to the fantasy of this lifestyle, but this place is the real deal.

I am not a horse person per se - my motto is "Give me a horse with a strong back and a good disposition," - and I've only ridden twice.  So I immediately felt out of place and was getting ready to leave, if it weren't for the extremely kind and enthusiastic sales people who quickly put me at ease.  

I explained what I was looking for, with some difficultly, in Spanish (I kept saying I had enormous legs because I'd forgotten the word for calves!).  The sales person I was working with knew some English so between the two of us there was a lot of hand gesturing and nodding.

On a back wall in a closet-like space, rows and rows of boots of all styles and colors line up like little soldiers.  I sat down on a little stool and started trying various delectable styles on, but nothing quite fit.  Getting ready to leave with slumped shoulders, the sales person asked "When do you leave Argentina?"  "Not for a few days," I told him.  "I ask, I think we can make them for you."  

After some checking and consternation with other various people at the main desk, he came back to me to let me know that it would indeed be possible to get custom made boots.  Their workshop is in the country and they normally have once a week deliveries, but they were willing to send the boots to me by taxi so they would be there in time for my flight.

With a great deal of measuring, consultations and considerations, the size and fit were recorded, as was the style and leather of my choice.  The leather craftsman who would be working on my boot was rung up, and (this much I could translate from Spanish) was warned of my unusual calf sizing.  She recommended modifying the style to be slightly shorter, on the advice that the proportions might look off otherwise.  I left it in the hands of the experts, and thanked the sales associate profusely.  He said the sweetest thing too - that he really wanted to make it happen for me, because his girlfriend has large calves and he thinks it's unfair she has such a hard time finding boots that fit.  He didn't want me to leave Argentina disappointed.  

In just two days - late on the night before our flight - a pair of handmade custom boots arrived miraculously at our hotel's front desk.  Needless to say, there was quite a bit of prancing as I pulled on the boots over my pajamas to test them out immediately.  

Here they are at home:

Hand-waxed cow leather, they have this burnished effect and a slightly red almost cordovan hue.

I love the little details, like the interior boot straps, the number/signature of the craftsman who made them and the little metal toe taps.  And of course the memory of how they came into my closet.