How to Wear Flat Lace Up Boots (Masculine Chic Style) #iwillwearwhatilike

An alternative title for this post could have been, How to Style This Longline Camel Coat for the 427th Time.

And although it would have been pretty accurate (with a longline camel coat whose cost-per-wear is probably in the minus figures by now), I went with How to Style Flat, Lace-up Boots. Because let’s face it, they’re not the most feminine of boots, but oh BOY do I love this style… masculine chic forever, I say!

I’m hoping that this is my last slightly-wintery-style look for a while… this time last year we were about to be bombarded by a weird April heatwave that pretty much lasted till October. (Here’s hoping.) I definitely have plans to feature a VERY spring/summer outfit next week – florals and toenails may make a surprise appearance.

For now, it’s all about warm chalky colours, a little knitwear, the longline (and much worn) duster coat, and these fabulous lace-up boots*.

Disclosure: I was gifted the boots by Josef Siebel under no obligation (click here for my full disclosure). The post contains affiliate links which means if you click through and buy I may receive a small commission at no cost to you. Any items listed as* were gifted within the last 12 months.

 

SHOP THE LOOK:

 

The boots were kindly gifted to me from Josef Siebel, a new-to-me brand that approached me to offer me some shoes of my choosing. I’ve only just got round to featuring them, but I’ve worn these ankle boots LOADS. They’re the kind of boots that you can put on for the first time and walk ALL DAY in them, they’re that comfy. I wore them to travel to Prague the other week so they’re now my go-to for train and plane travel.

I checked out their range online and it seems that all the glowing reviews from customers say the same thing: they’re comfort personified. I’m all about the ultimate in comfy, stylish footwear for everyday wear (I have a similar black pair that you can see styled here) and what I also love about these boots is the fact that they come with a worn-in look. They’re not the sort of boots you want to keep pristine. They NEED a little scuffing and for the leather to be a touch on the dull side.

They form the main part of this particular masculine chic look for me. Heels would change this outfit ENTIRELY, but a great pair of flat, ankle boots with laces would be the foundation of anything masculine chic. Warmer, chalky colours also help to keep the look soft if you’re worried about looking too ‘hard’!

Final note on the boots: Is it just me or do they look French to you? I can’t think of any reason why – or any look that I connect with that idea – but they just look… French. Je ne sais pas pourquoi!

 

 

Flat batteries, rain and other problems

Today was a total disaster where this blog post was concerned (as you might have realised by its extreme tardiness). The list of problems that added up to a super-late publishing time surmounted to:

• The camera battery dying after 10 photos, despite it showing as full before we left the house (thank goodness for Keith’s iPhone X)
• Big, FAT rain coming down mid-shoot and “staining” my light pink trousers (so we had to keep waiting the showers out)
• The PC deciding to be incredibly slow and practically die on me once we’d got home and then demand a (very slow) reboot
• The photos taking FOREVER (I’m talking nearly 3 hours) to upload from Keith’s phone as The Cloud refused to play ball
• Riley barking for attention from me from his bed because I was upstairs working, despite having Keith on the sofa right next to him
• Riley then REFUSING to go on his evening walk without me and standing in the driveway till I put a coat on and joined them
• The linky widget disappearing from the blog post JUST before I hit publish, and the awkward code (that I have to tweak to make the thumbnails appear on this page) not behaving
• The beer I then needed to drink to cope with everything that went wrong (maybe I should have finished the post first…)

THAT WAS MY DAY (#FACEPALM) – HOW WAS YOURS?! COMMENT BELOW…!

P.S. Do add your outfits to this week’s link up – and if you’ve added a link to here or my button to your post you may be featured in my bi-monthly Women Who Wear What They Like post!

Boots: Josef Siebel [gifted] In green they’re still available at John Lewis – all colours reduced!
Sweater: Seasalt (LOVE this Audrey Hepburn-style one)
Trousers: Mango (similar)
Coat: Asos (you might like this one, this one or this one)
Bag: Maxwell Scott (similar)
Necklace: BonbiForest at Etsy
Sunglasses: Lulus (similar)

 

OTHER LONGLINE/DUSTER COATS YOU MIGHT LIKE:

 

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Thank you for joining the #iwillwearwhatilike link up! This started as a campaign on Instagram in August 2015 where women over 30 wore everything on a journalist’s list of “inappropriate” items for 30+ women (including leopard print, short dresses and oversized sunglasses. Yes, really). It was so popular that I decided to carry it on weekly where women of all ages link up their fabulous style, never mind what anyone tells them not to wear!

The link up goes live every Tuesday at around 3pm UK time and will stay open for a week. Whilst the original article was of course aimed at the 30+, you can be ANY age to link up. The only prerequisite is that you’re wearing whatever you damn well like!

CLICK HERE to read the rules of linking up and how/why #iwillwearwhatilike started. Please be kind and reciprocate by linking back to here on your post – to leave a comment is even more in the spirit of support and community!

Click here to receive an email reminder for the next #iwillwearwhatilike link up as soon as it’s live

 

NEW STYLE LINK UP INFO (INLINKZ HAVE HAD A FACELIFT)

Inlinkz have had an update and changed the look of link ups a little. (Not my choice, but the old look has now been retired so all hosts have been forced into it.) There is ONE major thing that you need to know, and it’s in light of the GDPR data collection stuff:

The first time – and ONLY time – you link up to a new-style Inlinkz link party (this is a one-time thing on ANY blog, not for each blog you visit), you will need to register using either a Facebook or Google account (or Inlinkz account if you host link ups yourself). Once you’ve done this you can continue to link up as before on any Inlinkz link up on any blog, no further registration required.

A bit of a pain, but GDPR makes us do these things…!

Also: they’re working on increasing the number of characters allowed in the caption they told me. So apologies for the caption being a bit restrictive at the moment, hopefully it’ll change soon! Let me know if you have any problems at all.

Click here to enter