Wednesday 25 June 2014

Bodyline Review: Shoes 224

Last Thursday I received a pair of black Bodyline boots in the post. They took a few weeks to arrive as I used AIR shipping, but I didn't mind-- there was a free shipping deal going on and I had to take advantage of it! I didn't get hit with customs which was another bonus.

Bodyline shipped them in a bag, but this was fine because they were very securely wrapped in layers of bubble wrap. The boots were stuffed with long, stiff foamy stuff to help them retain their shape, and the toes of the boots had balled up tissue paper as well. The boots came with zero damage whatsoever. Thanks, Bodyline!

Well, here's the outer side of the left boot. You can see where the ankle creases due to movement. I don't mind this too much, and it's inevitable with sturdy, non-leather materials. The boots make your feet look really tiny!

Here's the inner side. The zip isn't the smoothest to do up but it's manageable. The creasing only seems to affect the outside of the boot, but this will probably vary depending on what your walk is like.

The traction is pretty good. The soles feel hard yet slightly rubbery, and they are rough to the touch. It seems unlikely you would slip over in these, unless you were on ice or something! I plan to wear the boots on wet or cold days rather than snowy conditions anyway (not that where I live has seen snow any time recently).

And here's a front view of the boots worn! I really like the bows as they are well constructed and cute, though none of them are detachable which might bother some people. These boots do not have a very forgiving calf size. My calves are about 37cm around, and I really think that is the maximum size for these boots. Otherwise, the laces won't be long enough and the sides of the boots won't really meet the tongue. It's a shame they didn't make these boots larger to fit more people.

Overall, I really like these boots. However, they lose points for their general solidness, which I can imagine could get uncomfortable if worn for an extended period of time. Also, these boots run a touch small. I would recommend getting 0.5cm size up from your regular measurement if you plan on wearing socks with these. I will only be wearing regular tights with them so hopefully they will remain comfortable. To explain, my feet are something like ~24-24.2 cm (I find them so hard to measure) so I always get size 245 in Bodyline shoes. For these boots, I think 250 would have been right for me. 

Finally, I have a pair of lolita boots! I will update you on their comfort level once I've worn them for a day.

EDIT 30/1/15: These boots are incredibly uncomfortable for tasks such as simply walking down stairs!  The material is so tough that it isn't flexible enough to accommodate the bending involved in that basic process, Where the tongue meets the top of the toe is quite bulky and you have to carefully readjust this to avoid it digging into your foot. I cannot in good faith recommend these boots for anything more than a photoshoot, They are simply not soft enough for extended wear.

I hope this review was helpful. Let me know what you think in the comments 

5 comments:

  1. Such cute boots! And finally! Someone who actually gives a clear number on the circumference of the calf! So often I see boot "reviews" where all that's mentioned is that the boot likely won't fit someone with large calves without any sort of reference to what large actually means. It's quite aggravating. So thank you for actually giving a clear measurement, my calves are also approximately 37 cm around, so I'm excited that I may be able to fit them! Have you considered tying them in a different way? I don't know the name of it, but I do remember reading somewhere that there's a different way you can tie the laces that will give you a bit more length so they might not fit as tight, so that might be worth looking into. Anywho, lovely boots and thank you for the review!

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    1. I'm glad you found it helpful! Haha, I'm guilty of making those vague, redundant comments in the past (now you've mentioned it, I think I'm going to go back through my past reviews and edit them with some actual measurements!) but then I realised how useless they were.

      I have never heard of that before so I may have to look it up! I have other footwear where the laces aren't as long as I'd like so maybe that would help me there. Thanks for suggesting it! And if it doesn't work out I can always purchase some longer laces :)

      Aw, not a problem! I'm glad you like the boots! Thanks so much for commenting <3

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  2. Are they good for wide feet? I have C or D width feet so I need to know if they could fit.

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    1. I have no idea what those letters mean (even google didn't bring up a standard width fitting guide for me) so all I can tell you is that the widest part of the sole of my foot is 9 cm. I tried measuring the widest part of the sole of the boots and got 9.5 cm. I am not convinced these boots would be comfortable on wide feet simply because they are made of a hard, non-leather material, which you really don't want rubbing against your skin all day!

      It's possible these boots get a little wider as you go up in sizes but I do not know this for sure and you may need to ask a few different owners of Bodyline boots to reach your decision. Good luck!

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