Déjà Wear

Now that shops and magazines have finally convinced me that Doc Martens boots have made their comeback, I got my Mum to excavate my old pair. Who would have thought that I will be able to say what used to annoy me no end when she said it "Oh, that was already in fashion when I was at university".

These boots, they have a history. I bought them in Dublin the year after my ERASMUS stay there when I had already bought a not-so-cool ankle-high pair. Back in the mid-1990s everyone wore Docs in Ireland with students and unversity lecturers (!) in particular. Needless to say, Amica and I had to get a pair and suffer the ritual of breaking them in. Docs are excruciatingly uncomfortable when you first put them on but after having repeatedly worn them in rain (that's the Irish remedy) and/or treated with a hammer (I never tried that method) they become like a second skin. I loved them and wore them quite a lot until I met TD who found them highly unflattering and said they reminded him of footwear reserved for the severly club-footed. The things you do for love...

For over a decade, they were forgotten until I decided I should dust them off and give them an airing. Somehow, I feel like an impostor wearing them. It's a bit like the HelloKitty! stuff I loved until I found it looked ridiculous if worn by someone on the wrong side of thirty.

Or perhaps they just need to be broken in once more.