No Surprise: Rihanna Is the First to Debut Fall's Most Controversial Boot Trend
The F/W 22 runways were stacked with trends, some tame and others a bit more shocking. Of those that fell into the latter category, probably the most controversial were the extra-wide, over-the-knee boots that seemed to appear on every single runway from Bottega Veneta and Chanel to ACNE Studios and Y/Project. Similar in shape to waders—yes, the extra-high boots that you wear when fishing—this season's OTK boots are far from the styles we've seen in the past, which makes it all the more unsurprising that Rihanna was the first celeb to wear them. After all, the Fenty founder has never been one to pick the obvious choice, especially when it comes to fashion.
Over the weekend, Rihanna and A$AP Rocky were seen in New York City, where the new mom debuted a pair of thigh-high, wader-like boots from Y/Project's even newer S/S 23 collection. With them, she added an R13 denim miniskirt, a vintage RZA T-shirt, and a vintage Tom Ford Gucci snakeskin bag, as well as Briony Raymond jewelry and sunglasses by Rick Owens. The look, as is almost always true of anything Rihanna wears, was cool as ever. The boots? A sign that waders have officially walked off the runway and into the real world.
In time with their arrival, shop a few of our favorite over-the-knee boots below.
On Rihanna: Y/Project boots; R13 skirt; Gucci bag; Rick Owens sunglasses; Briony Raymond jewelry
See the wader trend on the runway:
Shop over-the-knee boots:
When it comes to OTK boots, you can't go wrong with a pair from Stuart Weitzman.
Though, I'm also a fan of shorter, just-above-the-knee styles.
I'm pretty sure every WWW editor owns a pair of shoes from Vagabond.
Shop micro miniskirts:
If you thought low-rise bottoms wouldn't last, you thought wrong.
Next: Rihanna Wore the Sneakers That Every Fashion Person Wants to Get Their Hands On
Eliza Huber is a New York City–based fashion editor who specializes in trend reporting, brand discovery, and celebrity style. She joined Who What Wear in 2021 after almost four years on the fashion editorial team at Refinery29, the job she took after graduating with a marketing degree from the University of Iowa. She has since launched two monthly columns, Let's Get a Room and Ways to Wear; profiled the likes of Dakota Fanning, Diane Kruger, Katie Holmes, and Sabrina Carpenter for WWW's monthly cover features; and reported on everything from the relationship between Formula One and fashion to the top trends from fashion month, season after season. Eliza now lives on the Upper West Side and spends her free time researching F1 fashion imagery for her side Instagram accounts @thepinnacleoffashion and @f1paddockfits, running in Central Park, and scouring eBay for '90s Prada and '80s Yves Saint Laurent.
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