Victorian Boots Are My Witchy, Unexpected Style Secret Weapon

Spooky season may be well over and done, but for me, the season of the witch is perennial.

I’ve worn almost exclusively black for the past 15 years, and it’s one of the strongest pillars supporting my personal style. Another is the influence of Victorian and Edwardian era fashion—the delicate lace, the high collars, the voluminous taffeta, and the varying degrees of gothic romance (and overall witchiness), especially when it comes to mourning wear and hair jewelry. (I’m obsessed with the fact that Queen Victoria wore only black for the final 40 years of her life to mourn her beloved husband, Albert.) Perhaps most appealing to me, though, were the boots women wore during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.