The history of high-top boots: Over the knee boots

Over the knee boots are a trend that has been gaining more and more strength for a few years and had its most relevant role last season.

But this design has not reached its highest point yet, because in this winter campaign it is once again sweeping. We have seen them a lot on celebrities and on the street and always with an elegant and stylish result. They turn the legs into undisputed protagonists of any look, lengthening them and stylizing the figure.

But where does this model come from? The truth is that behind the "over knee boots" there is a very interesting story in the world of fashion.

We want to do a brief review of how XL boots come about so that you can be inspired by looks from the different periods in which they have shone and see that there is not just one way to wear them. Let's start!

From a story: pirates, musketeers and a puss in boots.

The first tall boots we see in history were purely functional and were worn by pirates and swordsmen such as the musketeers of 15th century France. The cane was dropped by the knee and many times it could be carried raised to protect them but in a loose way.

Little by little it evolved until it became one of the most popular protective clothing. Napoleon and his army, for example, were characterized by the use of high boots in their combat suits.

We have stories, legends and moments in history from this style of boots because we associate them more with fashion from other times and characters from novels than with the footwear we see in stores today.

The equestrian style

However, the style that we know best and that has inspired current boots is undoubtedly the equestrian style. Riders wore over-the-knee boots for horseback riding and became more stylized to fit the entire leg.

It was in England where the use of boots in horse riding became most popular, whether in races or hunting, sports widely practiced by both the upper and middle classes in the 19th century and continued to serve a purely protective function.

The fashion of the wonderful 60's arrives

Until now, the kingdom of boots was male since it was footwear that men tended to wear more. That changes in the early 1960s when one of Spain's best designers , Balenciaga, introduces the first haute couture boots made by Mancini in his 1963 fall collection.

The following year, Yves Saint Laurent did the same by including thigh-high crocodile skin boots by designer Roger Vivier.

It was the beginning of a fashion that would never cease to be present in the collections of haute couture and designers around the world. Each decade they reinvented themselves, as was the case in the 80s and 90s, in which the most rebellious urban tribes expressed their disagreement and their differentiating touch with this style.

One of the most famous scenes in cinema has these boots as the absolute center of attention. A perfect Julia Roberts wears them on the streets of Hollywood in the movie "Pretty Woman" and the high boots add a new characteristic in addition to elegance: sensuality.

Jimena: our XL high boot

The same concept and different designs that are a source of inspiration for brands, designers and fashion companies. In our case, the XL high-top Jimena boot is inspired above all by the world of horse riding and the British essence of Chelsea shoes, but we have kept in mind the journey of this design to be able to find the shape we were looking for.

An elegant and classic high-top boot that you can wear every day and that fits very well with the urban fashion that we see on the street. Enter the website and discover them!