Shoeperwoman to the Rescue: Find me cute rain boots!

Maya writes…

“Hi Shoeperwoman,
The weather is warming up and I’m enjoying the flip-flops and strappy heels. However, I feel choked by impending doom: Next year, I’ll be attending university and a friend of mine has alerted me that I will need rain boots. Rain boots, truthfully, terrify me. They’re horribly unflattering and come in all sorts of gaudy patterns and designs. Simply: Yuck. Are there any cute rainboots in the world?

~maya”

Well, I only ever wear rain boots to work in the garden, and I try to avoid EVER having to work in the garden, so I have to admit, this isn’t a dilemma I’ve ever faced myself. Unless your university course involves being our for hours on end in the rain, I’d probably say ditch the rain boots altogether and go for regular, non-leather boots – “pleather” may not be everyone’s first choice of footwear fabric, but it can be surprisingly water-resistant, and if it’s just for walking to and from classes, a cheap pair of faux-leather boots could be more stylish than actual wellies. Ditto patent uppers. But rain boots are what Maya asked for, so rain boots are what I’m going to find!

Luckily for Maya, now is probably the best time of year to buy rubber boots because the upcoming round of summer festivals means that footwear manufacturers start churning out wellies in their hundreds. Maya didn’t mention what kind of budget she’s on, so let’s start with the most obvious – and expensive – option: Hunter boots.

These are the Jimmy Choos of the wellie world, and I mean that literally: the boots at the top of this post were actually designed by Hunter for Jimmy Choo, and as far as rain boots go, they’re about as un-gaudy as it gets, with a moc-croc upper you could basically wear the same way you’d wear any other pair of flat boots.  And if you don’t fancy joining the waiting list for the Choos (Yes, there is a waiting list. For wellies. I KNOW.), Hunter also do lots of different colours, all in this same, very inoffensive style, with not a garish print in sight. BUT  they’re not very exciting, so read on for some more…

Now, I know what you’re thinking: these are essentially high heeled Wellington boots, and that just HAS to be wrong. HAS to be. Hear me out, though: I don’t know about you, but my biggest problem with rain boots isn’t the fact that they’re usually brightly coloured (I actually think that if you’re going to wear rubber boots, you may as well throw caution to the wind and make them as bright as possible), but the fact that they’re usually clumpy and unflattering. Because these ones have a bit of a heel, they’ll flatter the leg, give you some height, and I think the shape is a little more elegant than the usual “wellie boot” shape. If rubber boots can ever be called “elegant”, obviously.

These are £35 from Additions Direct. (I don’t know where you’re based, Maya, but you should be able to find a similar style wherever you are.)

Modcloth’s ‘Raindrops on Roses’ boots. They’re $114.99, but they’re possibly the prettiest rain boots I’ve seen. Aren’t they an absolute scream?

And now for the bit where I turn this question over to our readers and see if they can come up with any other suggestions for you. So, what do you think, folks: can you suggest a cute pair of rain boots for Maya?