What are Cossacks and what do cowboys have to do with it?
Cossack boots are a type of cowboy boot. It sounds strange how the name of an ethno-class group from Zaporozhye refers to purely American shoes. It’s a complicated story.
Cowboy boots were originally riding shoes. Their main differences are a beveled heel and a narrow toe, making it easier to put your feet in the stirrups and secure yourself there, a high and wide boot that is easy to put on, and your shins are safe when you wander around in who knows where. These boots are also called Western boots.
There are also ropers. They are shorter than Westerns and have a straighter, low heel. This is a more pedestrian version of cowboy boots. Moreover, over time they even received a square nose, which was completely impractical from a riding point of view.
Both Westerns and ropers can be decorated with bright embroidery, for example, but this is more for the soul than for the benefit.
And finally, the Cossacks. These are more like fan shoes, not related to cowboys, but inspired by them. These are usually short boots with slanted heels, often richly decorated. That is, they only adopted decorative elements from Westerns; it’s better not to approach horses in these.
But in the end, this difference is very elusive to anyone who is not a fashion historian. So if you search the Internet for shoes by any of these names, you will find them all at once. Which is logical to some extent, because from the point of view of selecting images, models perform similar functions.
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How to wear Cossacks
It cannot be said that Cossacks are now an item of fashionable clothing and shoes. Such boots were at their peak in the second half of the tenths. But these shoes did not become an anti-trend, so even now you can create an interesting image with them.
Country style
Cowboy and cowboy-inspired shoes are native to this style. And therefore it will fit into the images as harmoniously as possible. Another thing is that you need to be careful so that the ensemble turns out modern and stylish, and not like someone accidentally put on a Halloween costume or is going to a fan viewing of Toy Story. But it’s not that difficult, you just have to be careful when selecting attributes. For example, do not add a cowboy hat and a fringed belt to the Cossacks.
For the rest, you can use all the best elements of country style: jeans and other denim items, flannel shirts, coarse knit sweaters. Images using things that don’t fit very well with cowboy life will look especially interesting. For example, you can take flared jeans and wear them untucked. A logical remark arises: but then the shoes for which everything was started will not be visible. Don’t worry: Cossacks have a very distinctive toe and heel.
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Country chic style
Fashionistas know that there is American country, the actual cowboy style, and then there is British style. And this is completely different. This is also a style of country life, but no longer of hard workers caring for livestock, but of aristocrats. They don’t clean the manure themselves, so their images are much more luxurious. Good reference – Kate Middleton outfits.
Country chic is simple and comfortable jeans, including knitted trousers, polo-shirts, vests, club jackets, laconic jackets and parkas, quilted vests, plain shirts.
The shoes used here, of course, are not cowboy boots, but jockey boots – knee-high, with a straight top and low heel. But no one is stopping us from choosing the shoes we like. Therefore, you can also wear Cossacks.
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Boho style
Boho is the hippie style of festivals. In some aspects it echoes cowboy country: denim, embroidery, fringe, natural flowy fabrics. But these are already comfortable, but elegant looks, in which you would rather dance until dawn, rather than ride on horseback.
In the boho style, you should try wearing Cossacks in the summer with miniskirts, shorts and short dresses. And bare feet, of course. It may seem that closed shoes will be too hot. But in reality it often turns out that no, it’s not warmer than walking in sneakers. But it looks very impressive.
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In a romantic style
Both cowboy country and boho, which imply, among other things, flowy, loose dresses, brought us to this point. But this style is worth discussing separately, because the contrast of rather rough work boots and feminine dresses, skirts, and tops works well here. And therefore, outfits with ruffles and flounces, open shoulders, asymmetry – deliberately feminine, gentle and sensual – will look interesting with the Cossacks.
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Casual style
You can take the simple route and wear Cossacks with casual clothes. If they are fancy boots, they can be an accent piece. If it’s relatively calm, it’s a highlight.
Wear Cossacks, for example, with a narrow midi skirt, a knitted long sleeve and an elongated jacket, or with tight trousers and an oversized jacket, or a voluminous mini-dress. Of course, whether a particular image looks good with your Cossacks can only be said after trying it on. But in general, if the ensemble is usually combined with rough boots or Chelsea boots, it will probably look good with Cossacks too, just a little more interesting.
With Cossacks, you can also try a life hack, which was recently a hot trend, but now is just an additional way to decorate the image. You need to put on flowy wide trousers and tuck them into your boots. Then the legs will fall beautifully due to their volume and take on a perky spherical appearance.
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