The Dictator | White booties: the shoes for spring-summer 2018

I’ve seen a lot of fashionistas wearing short white boots. Is it an inside joke or something we should all be following now?
Stepping Up, Stanley

The Dictator: Now? We’ve been suffering the sight of them for ages. We hoped the world would come to its senses in 2018 and reject all the bad choices of 2017. (Well, 2016 in some cases.) Nope.

White booties were everywhere at recent fashion weeks, and we blame the white trainer brigade more than anyone else. White booties are touted as the versatile, one-colour-matches-all shoe for spring-summer 2018. We’ve also heard them being recommended as the transitional piece from winter, and, get this, the ideal footwear for the new pastel ready-to-wear trend.

Let’s start with basics. Balenciaga’s Pointed Toe Slash Heel booties in white calfskin with a curved, 40mm heel hit the mark perfectly (HK$7,400). For a cheaper option, you could try Pedder Red’s white, stretch leather ankle boots with a kitten heel (HK$1,890); also available with block heels (HK$1,990). Chunky heels are popular, too, as on Off-White’s 100mm heeled booties in white leather with red details (HK$7,569).

Vetements has fun with its version, which features pink or yellow high­lighter pens as heels (HK$10,938; Net-a-Porter). Neous uses sculptural shapes for heels, such as the spherical heel or the gold coloured disc on white leather ankle boots (HK$4,769; Net-a-Porter), while 3.1 Phillip Lim gives its white leather sock boot a black heel of 105mm (HK$6,070). Start there or go lower, but don’t graduate up to knee-high boots unless you’re ready for Stormtrooper comparisons.