reader question: what to wear with riding boots

This post is dedicated to Kelly, from Tearing Up Houses - evidently my one, sole reader. (Haha, get it? ... SOLE!) She commented on my Winter Boots post, and she asks for:

Ideas on a pair of boots I bought a couple of years ago. They're Etienne Aigner riding boots a little sleeker than the first pair you pictured. I love, love, love them but don't wear them much because I never know what to pair them with. In the past I've thrown them on with an Abercrombie jean mini and a couple of lacey tanks. Any new ideas? (By the way, I don't really own skinny jeans because they look horrible on my body type, so it's tough squeezing my boot cuts into these...)

I'd never heard of the Etienne Aigner brand before, but I did a quick Google search to figure out what I was working with. I'm not sure what style exactly you've got, or what color, so I picked the ones that I would pick for myself, so hopefully you've got something similar to these:

 Etienne Aigner Venezia Riding Boots, $179.95, Amazon







Since I know you live in Florida, I will refrain from throwing a mess of cold-weather options your way, and suggest these instead:

Dresses
My first thought was to go for a breezy, chiffon dress in a floral pattern. My next thought was that, that was too predictable, so I looked for some alternatives as well.


Skirts
Since you mentioned that you usually wear skirts with it, I thought I'd try and find a few other choices besides denim and miniskirts, and found a few tops to pair with them.


Shorts
It is possible to wear boots and shorts together without looking like either Daisy Duke or a hooker.


Click on the images to see the items in each set!

You also mentioned that you have a hard time shoving boot-cut jeans into them, and that skinny jeans don't look good on you. As far as this goes, I would suggest perhaps finding a pair of jean-capris that you like, and tucking those into your boots - there's a lot less fabric to deal with than a full pair of jeans. Else, try finding a looser-cut pair of denim leggings.

Hope this helped, Kelly!