Friday, August 1, 2014

New Rock Boots for Everyday Wear

Fee, from An Honest Drug (another dark fashion blogger who I think has a lot of great modern goth/nugoth styles) recently scored some New Rock Boots at a charity shop. And she bought the same ones I have!



I've worn them as everyday shoes for about 8 years, though for the last 4 they've kind of sat around. They are amazing, well-made boots worth every penny, but they are almost too iconic for their own good. Too recognizable. Personally I think the boot I have, the New Rock Reactor boot, is more versatile than the others. Here are ways I've worn them for everyday wear that are not "mall goth" or trying too hard. At least I hope.

Easy answer: wear them with boot-cut pants and just hide all the buckles. Though, what's the point, then?

My main advice is to NOT wear New Rock boots with any kind of goth brand stuff. No Lip Service, no Hot Topic, no Hell Bunny--none of that stuff. You're already wearing one of the most recognizable brands on your feet. You'll look way too loud if you're brand brand brand from head-to-toe. That's cool for the weekend, but not every day.

One of my favorite ways to wear the boots is with really girlie styles (since I'm not girly at all). Honestly, one of the only ways I can wear a dress like the below and still feel myself is with some mean boots. The focal point is your girly dress and accessories and not your boots. This is toning down your loud boots with something even louder.
pro blogging tip--don't paint the walls of your house some crazy color that'll fuck with your camera settings and mess up your skin tone.
Gothic Laundry Day: Another way I like to wear them is with very understated black clothes with little-to-none embellishment. Think the basics section of a department store. Going back to your goth roots: buying whatever black clothes you had at your local lame store and paring it with your boots. Below, I'm wearing it with a very nugoth high shorts and crop top. If you're going the nugoth route, I'd recommend that you NOT wear any of the big sunglasses/hats/hair accessories indicative of the nugoth style: too many focal points=trying too hard=too loud. I'd say ankle belts, garters would be ok though. Best if you steer clear of accessories altogether.

This black-on-black style is pretty much how I wear my New Rocks these days. Don't wear it with "festival" styles or romantic goth tops...only very clean modern/classic styles. as boring as you can go. black t-shirt and long skinny jeans. black shiny leggings and a black tunic top. A leather shirt and a black miniskirt. The no-style style. I think you get it. Laundry day.


This should be obvious, but it might be too literal for some of you. Military styles. I wear them with military styles, which comes and goes in fashion pretty often.

Another way to tone down New Rocks is to...not make them look so fresh-out-of-the-box. Make them look less like New Rocks. One of the ways I used to do this is make my boots look ratty and gutterpunk by undoing the buckles and loosening them, having the top kind of flop around. When I wore them in the 100 degree heat, that's what I did. (I don't do the gutterpunk thing anymore, btw...can't go from midlevel career professional to gutter these days)


You have to undo the laces... I just undid the top one, but two would be more floppier and more gutterpunky. wrap the extra slacked laces around the boot as below. BTW, tighten the remaining laces really good, otherwise it'll be hard to walk in them. For the rest of the outfit, wear what you'd think a murder hobo would wear: vintage denim, loose clothes with sleeves ripped off, shit with holes in it. NO GOTH BRANDS. OR PUNK BRANDS. If you don't want to go murder hobo, you can just wear with the black-on-black style described above for postapocalyptic gothic laundry day.

my new rocks are the rattiest new rocks i've seen on the internet TBH. broken front, flames coming off, I've worn the heel down so much it had to be replaced with a work boot heel. had to change out the zippers
blurry...

don't look like 300-dollar boots now, do ya? not on a murder hobo....

It's been fun playing dress-up with my old favorite boots. I've had them for 15 years now. Wore the heel down almost a cm through the decorative plate! (you can see where the shoe repair guy added the new work-boot heel.)

Any bloggers out there, please share your tips on how to wear New Rocks in a more subtle/everyday wear kind of way.

14 comments:

  1. I admit that I´ve never liked the New Rock boots style, it was always too much of things going on on a boot for me. Laces are enough for me I would say. I guess I enjoy looking at the boots on other people :) the no-style is my favorite, I wear it a lot nowadays too, it has even become more goth to me than other styles hehe. You basically can´t go wrong with neutral outfit+crazy shoes.

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    1. I still like them, but I'm glad I got a more subtle one than the crazy chain/patent/spike ones out there. It's starting to look so dated.

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  2. I love you forever for doing this. <3

    I definitely agree that they've become too iconic; they just draw too much attention in an outfit sometimes. Minimalist/nu-goth is probably going to be the way I wear them - maybe with lots of drapey stuff, but I love the idea of wearing them in a grungy style as opposed to goth, and will do that too. The heels on mine aren't quite as worn as yours, but my god they're scuffed!

    Thank you again!

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  3. Ah the old faithful new rocks :) I love how they last so long, expensive but worth it! And I totally agree with the whole simplified outfit with them, some nice tights, a plain knee length skirt and a vest is my safe option :) sometimes a kreepsville skirt if I'm feeling garish ;D

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  4. I do not think there is any more tips to add, you covered them all in this post! :) This was great, informative and funny. I love how you pose in many different ways and even "ranted" humorously about the wall paint. I think that girly style with new rocks looks amazing on you, it's my favorite, though your tips about how to look like a murder hobo were hilarious. ^^

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  5. I always wear boots with everything, my ankle boots are so comfy! They are really light more 'pixie' type boots, though.

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  6. New Rocks are amazing, and you can do so much with them. And they last such a long time! These are really awesome! :)

    x Dawn // www.wickedlypleasant.blogspot.com

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  7. I have actually never worn mine except for clubbing/festivals. However, mine are knee-high so they would be pretty hard to tone down (and I am terrible at toning down outfits!)

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