Shoe+Bootie=Shootie. Algebra is the New Black.

Blake Lively and Victoria Becks show off their booties in winter, spring, summer, and fall!

If there’s one fashion crime that’s deserving of stoning, it’s shoe fraud. We’ve all committed it, and we’ve all accused others of the ghastly offense by shooting a penetrating glare towards a stranger’s stride.  If you’re wondering what constitutes a shoe scandal, it’s not mismatched materials, superfluous ornamentation, or even last season’s style.

The fault is weather-pending.  There should be a firm separation between a sandal and snow, a boot and the beach (Megan must have missed the memo), a sneaker and—just kidding, sneakers belong only on the track.  If I could make it possible for Australia Luxe to go all Cinderella and morph into a pumpkin when exposed to temperatures above fifty degrees, mark my word, I would.

Finally though, a shoe has come along to satiate my weather-woes.  Lesson of the day: what do you get when you add one part shoe and one part boot?  (Hint: the answer is not the anatomical euphemism associated with Beyonce’s derrière.)  A hybrid creation really, the shootie has been a paragon of faultless footwear since its introduction in the fourth quarter of 2008, and has sustained not only a freezing winter, rainy spring, and humid summer, but is back for the fall of 2009.

With the quirky (if not a bit zany) terminology hitting the mainstream more recently than the style itself, the shootie has become an undoubted celebrity must-have of yesterday, today, and tomorrow.   Various colors (Gossip Girl Blake Lively’s royal blue), fabrics, heel heights (V. Beckham in stilts as always), and details (Ashlee Simpson wears fold overs) have engaged celebrities from climate to climate.  Even my new (and only not-wearable) obsession, Alexa Chung, has added the shootie to her whimsical wardrobe.

I expect that from here, our beloved ankle boot by beloved brands such as Rosegold, Jeffrey Campbell, and Loeffler Randall, will lapse its shelf-life and continue to thrive well through the holiday season.  And if it’s true that the punishment should fit the crime, then I’m hoping for your sake that you opt for these over a kick in the bootie.