'Tis the season for giving, so naturally as I carefully sifted through dozens of websites searching for gifts for my loved ones, what do I spy but my all-time favorite color and style of Lucchese cowgirl boots? Yes, with their tan suede rough-out bottoms and perky turquoise shafts, they just scream authentic, rodeo goin' Texas girl.
Not that I am an authentic cowgirl who attends rodeos, but if I were these would be the only boots I'd ever need.
Lucchese boots, as you may not know, are hand-crafted in Texas. So carefully are they crafted, the moment you slide them on they take on the shape of your foot and Become One with you. They fit snugly around the instep for stability, with a little bit of room for the heel to move, whether bronco busting or busting a move at your local saloon.
But wait, there's more.
When I was a mere girl of 18, I worked the summer before college as a classified ad taker for the San Antonio Express News. One day, a charming older man with a soft Italian accent called to place a help wanted ad. His name was Mr. Lucchese and he owned a local boot-making business.
Shocked that I did not recognize his name or his company, he patiently told me the story of how for decades he'd carefully and lovingly crafted his boots, for real cowboys as well as presidents and kings throughout the world. He described the lushness of the leather, the delicate hand stitching and the hand-rubbed patina on each and every pair.
He was so sweet and I remember years later when he died how kindly he explained his life's passion to me.
Of course I couldn't afford a pair back then; in fact I didn't even see any of them up close until about five years ago when I discovered a Lucchese boutique in an ultra fancy shopping center. In I walked to a leather scented wonderland of the most gorgeous collection of cowboy boots imaginable. Some cost upwards of $10,000, but most fell into the $500 to $1,000 range.
Last year, I finally ponied up the money for my first pair- an on sale, smooth medium brown leather pair with rather plain stitching up the shafts. They were not my first choice, but they were affordable and beautiful, so I settled.
My first choice is pictured above. Were it not the season for giving and had I not just quit my job, I'd buy them immediately and never look back.
But I have my dreams, and maybe one day I'll be strutting around town in my own pair of turquoise and brown rough-out leather Lucchese boots.
