What better way to bring Boot Week to a rousing close, my little galliforms, than to wear a pair of boots so outré that they’ll pep up the dreariest day in the lab, and turn the heads of even the most jaded scientist? And for those who invoke sexual selection as a major impetus for boot wearing, here’s your proof: an over-the-top pair of semi-custom peacock boots from the hippest of all outfits, Rocketbuster, in El Paso (financial support provided by The New Republic).
When I asked for this design, there was an audible groan, for the stitching here is extremely time-consuming. Each boot has four peacock feathers, and each is sewn by hand—with a sewing machine, to be sure, but one that is hand-guided. Check this out:
These are not everyday boots, mi panecillos, but Sunday go-to-meeting* best, appropriate for the Footwear Grand Finale.
*this is metaphorical, of course
What a surprise to find one of my favorite public intellectuals has a boot fetish. Rowr, Jerry.
And now we know where all that Excessive Disposable Income From Your Elite Librul Perfesser’s Salary is going. Can you even afford to take the Otter out for dinner anymore?
I prefer to think of it as a “hobby” rather than a “fetish”!
Why, when “fetish” has so much more cache?
I’m just teasin’ ya.
You mean “cachet”. 🙂
Damn it! I hate when I’m the stupid one- that’s just the sort of dumb mistake I’d get all up on my high horse about:)
Slinking away. . .
Like conflating “hobby” and “fetish”! LOL!
Boy that is confirmation. You are out of control!! Many ladies for Jerry, LOL!
Fantastic boots.
Those are truly spectacular. This Texas-bred boy applauds.
My compliments to the master who crafted this work of art. I am well and truly impressed, and I thank you for supporting the arts by commissioning this work.
Cheers,
b&
Both Imelda and I want those. Now.
This pair makes all the others look like merde. I got a solution: give this stupendous pair away (to me, as Imelda is dead) so your other boots don’t feel so ugly. I won’t even charge for the self-esteem lifting that your remaining boots will feel. You are welcome.
Heeheehee.
And who are you calling a turkey?
In my best Travis Bickle voice: are you talking to me?
Wow, wow, wow! Those are some amazing boots! Very, very nice. Now, I want to see the Hawaiian shirt that goes with those boots!
What size are your feet??? Better watch your back! ;^)
Never was into boots myself, but I have a greater appreciation for them after this week.
You need to get Manuel to design some gnu clothes to go with those ornate shit kickers.
Maybe if/when you come to Nashville? http://www.manuelcouture.com/about.html
What kind of “Sunday go-to-meeting” occasions do you attend? Inquiring minds want to know.
At first, I thought that these boots are more in the way of “line-dancing-at-the-honky-tonk-on-Saturday-night type boots than a “Sunday go-to-meeting” type boot but then it occurred to me that you probably wouldn’t want to wear them to anything that might scuff them up. They really are more of a piece of art than footwear.
If I recall correctly, Dr. Coyne is of the cultural Saturday go to Shacharit persuasion.
I doubt that. Those are every daily prayers anyway, not just Saturday.
Well, given the amount of BBQ pork that has been consumed in various posts, it would have to be very cultural and non observant.
WOW
What a work of art! That close-up of the stitching is mesmerizing.
And hey–if you’ve got it, flaunt it.
My, my, my!! Them thar are some mighty prudy shitkickers.
Stitching like that is very prone to damage from . . . cat claws. Just one little playful cat paw on your boots and it could all come undone.
Capital-A Art that I can actually comprehend. That’s too cool for words.
Um…so, how many pairs of cowboy boots does this guy have? I’ve got a gut feeling this series is going to go on for while. O.O
…it’s fascinating though. 🙂
Beautiful!
Very impressive boots in your collection. You’re O.K., …for a yankee.
Remember, they ain’t REAL boots until you step in a cow pattie. Or horse will do I suppose. You don’t need to get messy, just the sole. Chicago has mounted police, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find some.
Outstanding boots, practical (!!) & excellent craftsmanship.
On a more prosaic level, how do you keep up the shine on the leather without staining & spoiling the stitching?
Oh, make my heart go pitter patter!
is this bipolar, manic phase?
Must be hell to polish.
That’s awesome work on those boots – now there’s a master bootsmith and leatherworker.
YOW!
Those are speck tack you larr.
Do they get you like totally sexually selected?
Ooh, very artfully posed, too; you’ve got some lavish foliage growing out of your left foot.
Hot damn! Well earned, too – those are enough to resurrect Marty Robbins.
And paraphrasing something I once heard:
It’s the duty of the intellectual man
To support the artisan.
Ya done your duty!
Except… do male peacocks want to mate with dogs and children? Otherwise I don’t understand why they would show their tails to them.
… they show their tails to scare off predators. Thus the eyes. And it works, too.
Nice design; left and right feet are mirror images; no doubt done by computerized machine embroidery; if only one needle, then the operator has to change thread colour when the design dictates; not that demanding artistically.
Wow! When are YOU coming to Calgary, Alberta, Canada???
Gals love c’boy boots on men with brains here. Feisty dames, we are.
Calgary Stampede 2011?
OK. That is just not fair. I have worn boots since I was 12 years old, but I have never, ever, never had boots like that. Mind you, had I had so at a young age, there would have been sincere questions about something, and fist-fights to follow. Still, I want those boots: that stitch-work is absolutely amazing: anything in an 10.5 EEE?
or, if I have to 11EE?
How do you polish boots like that, without messing up the pretty stitching?
I’m guessing you don’t just smear them with black shoe polish.
For the benefit of potential boot-wearers out there, you don’t really need to polish most books with colored polish. I may use it occasionally to touch up scuffs, but it’s better just to apply a non-colored boot cream like Bick 4 of Meltonian boot cream.
That way you don’t have to worry about messing up the stitching.
Polishing – surely a job for a graduate student?!
Sir, you have excelled yourself! I rest my case re Signal Selection…
…& the first time I have been called one of the neognothae – however JC, surely Galliformes rather than Galliforms?!
I always figured slathering colored polish on the stitching was a bad idea.
Still, I’d worry about scuffs, and whether anything colored on the scuffs would eventually end up migrating to the stitching, carried by the clear polish.
I’ve never had to worry about this myself because I’ve never cared much about the boring stitching on my unexceptional boots. I’ve blacked out white stitching on the uppers of black boots with leather dye (or a sharpie) to make them solid black, which I like fine; then I can just polish the uppers any old way.
I wouldn’t do that to your peacock feathers, though. If I had snazzy boots like that, I’d be uncomfortably worried about scuffs and how to treat them.
I guess I’d also be worried about spoiling their perfection just from polishing the scuffs, but being unable to make them completely go away.
Maybe I’m just not the alpha peacock type—more of a low maintenance scruffy type who doesn’t want to worry about his scuffy boots.