Thanks Robyn for inspiring this post!
It's no secret that Frye makes the best boots around - beyond the pedigree, vintage, and historical "street cred," they are simply beautiful to behold. My heart thrills to the supple, slightly shiny heft of the leather, the painstaking attention to detail, the patient craftsmanship (over 190 steps for each pair according to their website), the longevity, and the androgyny. It makes me glad that such a shoemaker exists, and that they have been around for so long (since 1863--they shod soldiers on both sides of the Civil War!).
If there's an addiction worth having, I think it's gotta be Frye. If I had $1,000 lying around, I wouldn't buy 4-5 pairs of designer jeans, like many girls do. I wouldn't buy a purse. (Well, maybe I would buy a purse...but only if it were Alexander McQueen, and if it were on sale). No, I'd buy 3 pairs of Frye boots. No matter that it rarely gets cold enough in California to wear them, or that I in no way resemble an engineer, or that I don't do any work strenuous enough to require a work boot. This, my friends, is what I call luxury.
What I really wanted to write about here is about the sense of longing, and even loss, I feel for some of the most gorgeous examples of the Frye company's workmanship. Many of these styles are no longer available, not available in my size, impossible to find through the usual discount or secondhand channels (you can forget about finding the Owen boot on eBay) or just prohibitively expensive. Maybe some are lost forever. But they are still beautiful, still classic, and I love them.
- Adrienne tall button boot
- Allie softie pump
- Andrea mid boot in black
- Billy western boot in cream
- Daisy Dukes - classic with double-F detail, perforated, and studded
- Engineer 12R boot in dark brown
- Faith boot in 'denim'
- Owen lace work boot
- Adrienne oxford in snakeskin and Adrienne stitch oxford in brown, and olive
- Classic Campus boot in dark brown
- Paige buckle boot
- Villager lace boot