Love. . . my DM boots

My trusty metallic purple "1460" 8 eyelet Dr Martens

Each time I get to a "Love. . ." blog post I struggle to know what to write, as I have a seemingly endless list of things that I love! Which one can I choose? So many options - some thought-provoking, some emotional, some frivolous, some mundane. . .

Anyway, today my trusty Dr Marten "AirWair" boots were at the forefront of my mind as we are in the depths of winter here and apart from gumboots/Wellington boots and snowboots, these DMs are the only boots I own, so I wear them quite a lot! They have been with me for 10 years and they feel like old friends every time I put them on.

Together we have walked untold miles through Scotland,  New Zealand, England and Wales. I even wore them at my Civil Union in 2008. I had built my CU outfit around a "seascape shawl" I knitted (my first ever piece of 2 ply lace-weight lace knitting) and from there I chose my top and procured a custom-made skirt (sewing skills not quite up to it, though I suggested the design and selected the fabric).

Civil Union photo on the wharf, 2008.

But I was stumped when it came to what shoes to wear. . . Until suddenly in a flash of inspiration I realised I could wear my trusty DMs! Funny that it didn't occur to me sooner, cos way back before I had any DMs (or even any idea that I was gay) I always used to joke that I would be wearing DMs to my wedding, having seen a pair of raw silk DMs worn with a wedding dress!

The night before the Civil Union I had the idea of using some scraps of the skirt's contrast fabric to make boot laces for my DMs. My mum and I sat there late into the night carefully wrapping each boot lace with this flimsy "watered silk" fabric". I loved the co-ordinated look :)

Civil Union footwear, with fancy boot laces

Dr Marten boots were first unleashed on the world on 1st April 1960, and there is plenty of history on the Dr Martens' website. All makes interesting reading and it wasn't long before the boots morphed from working boots to social statement. You can even buy vegan DM boots from their online store, entirely animal-free and made from breathable "felix microfibre" to emulate leather. This quote from the history page of their website really stood out to me: "Dr. Martens anchor you, liberate your creativity, inspire and fuel your identity." Quite a substantial achievement for a pair of boots!

Frodo helping with the DM photo-shoot!