You ladies wouldn’t believe how many issues I’ve had looking for a pair of comfortable, relatively affordable, totally badass black boots for winter. I live in New York City, but I’m sadly not part of the tax bracket that can take taxis or car services everywhere (or even the majority of places), so I’m left with a bit of a conundrum: Truly cheap shoes wear out too quickly and hurt too much for my walking-heavy lifestyle, but truly expensive shoes are often a bit too precious for the kind of beating they’ll take with continuous city wear.

On top of that, my feet are a tad wide at the toes and my arches are very high, so finding a boot that doesn’t squeeze my foot to the point of lost circulation has been tough. I feel as though I’ve been up and down through Frye’s entire product line, to no avail.

Fiorentini and Baker

? Too tight through the arch.

Then I ordered the Jeffrey Campbell Brit Wrap Strap Boots, and finally, all of my problems were solved.

I w anted boots th

at would be, essentially, a jack of all trades.

I wanted to wear them with tights, leggings, skirts, dresses, jeans, everything.

Everyone needs a go-to pair of shoes every season, and I wanted motorcycle boots to be mine for this fall and winter.

These boots may not be without their faults, but I’ve had them for several weeks and have yet to put them on with anything that didn’t look great. (It should be noted, I do not wear “work clothes.” These boots would not look good with most traditional office outfits.)

First, my gripes: The leather is kind of…crappy. It’s real leather, and at a $230 price point for a pair of heavy boots from a trendy brand, that’s to be expected, but it’s still far from what you’ll get from a premiere designer. It’s softening up nicely as I wear the boots, though, so it’s an imperfection I’m willing to live with in a shoe that’s supposed to get dirty and broken-in. Using Italian lambskin on this design would be beside the point, but be prepared if you order them.

Also, the “wrap” closure takes a little getting used to. Practice makes perfect, though, and I found the learning curve fairly small.

The sides of the boots are open down to right around your ankle bones, though, which both gives the

boot its excellent slouch but also makes your wrapping technique important. They’ll gap a bit here and there, but they’re supposed to – imperfection is part of the look, and these boots do that look exceptionally well.

On the positive side, as I mentioned previously, these boots are heavy.

In fact, the sole is so thick that it’s not unlike those that you find on Fryes. They’re rubber on the bottom, which I prefer for traction purposes, but the overall look is much closer to a real motorcycle boot than you’ll find from most fashion brands. That’s the look I wanted, and it’s exactly what Campbell delivered. When you wear these shoes, they feel solid and you

feel slightly cooler.

More than anything, though, they’re very comfortable. The footbed is a little hard, so you may prefer yours with gel inserts, but I haven’t found the need so far. I’ve done quite a bit of walking in them with relatively thin socks because of the mild fall weather, and although I do have a blister on the back of one of my heels from breaking them in, it’s somehow a blister that doesn’t hurt at all. In fact, I didn’t even realize I had it until I crossed my legs on my couch at home and saw it. For a tough, rigid pair of shoes, that’s not bad at all.

Finally, if you find most foots too tight or restrictive in the foot or ankle, this is a great pair that gives you some control over exactly how tight or loose you want your shoes because of the straps closure.

I’ve read elsewhere that this design runs large, but I ordered my true size and have been very happy with the results. They can even accomodate my ankle brace, when I occasionally wear if my torn ligament is giving me problems. For the price, I doubt I’ll find a pair of boots I like more.