footwear

Call-of-the-West Booties by Frye

Photography courtesy of Anthropologie

From Western we'd gladly wear to turn-of-the-century style capable of going the extra mile, fall boots are anything but boring. Here, 11 picks our calves are craving:

The Saucony Jazz Originals in grey and orange, available at Shoe Biz (1553 Haight St.)

Photography courtesy of Shoe Biz

Wait until that deal come round...

Is this the perfect San Francisco shoe?

Photography courtesy William Hamilton for Martha Davis

Hear, ye! Hear, ye! We may very well have found the perfect San Francisco shoe – no easy feat in a town where hills, fierce winds and flirtatious pockets of summer sun are all in a day’s walk.

The hot-stepper we’ve set our sights on is an open-toe, open-heel leather boot courtesy of local footwear designer Martha Davis, whose wedge-heavy debut collection ($270-$750) for spring summer 2009 has garnered much praise since its launch earlier this year.

Photography courtesy of Chrome

You don’t need to be a badass bike courier brave enough to navigate the wilds of downtown San Francisco’s seriously trafficked streets to justify a pair of hardcore kicks from Chrome's new men’s shoe line, released this week.

Four styles strong, the debut shoe collection ($70-$90) features the same tough construction and durability that have made the 14-year-old company’s utility and messenger bags beloved by the local bike set, but are designed with regular pavement-pounders in mind.

The Slings & Stones Mary Straight Slim Cut retails for $270 at Self Edge.

Photography courtesy of Self Edge

Because it doesn’t pay to pay more than you have to.

Gucci arrives at DSW: The Union Square location of this discount shoe retailer is one of 14 stores nationwide to receive shipments of shoes and accessories by Gucci, the latest high-end brand to land in the store. Expect to find items by the iconic Italian label going for up to 60 percent off retail.

The Charisma pull-on boot by Dekkori

Photography courtesy of Dekkori

If the shoe fits, wear it, they say. We’d wager a more important factor is how that shoe looks. But that line of thinking can lead to crippling outcomes – and not just for your toes.

For Stephanie Kim, a fascination with fabulous footwear almost jeopardized the contents of her kitchen cabinets.

The Donald J. Pliner Kazia in natural cork is available at Zappos in size five.

Photography courtesy of Zappos

Footwear is, perhaps, the only realm of women’s fashion where those seeking the smallest sizes perpetually come up short-handed. In any other category, the woman seeking the smaller size will – in most stores, at least – have more options than her larger counterparts. But when it comes to shoes, the tiniest toes face the toughest challenge. And according to Suzette Standring of The Huffington Post, the problem is only getting worse.

Heels by Givenchy

Photography courtesy of Zappos.com

We’ve come across many a disturbing fashion trend in our day, but this one certainly outranks many of them: high heels and shopping bags may make you more attractive to muggers. Last week, the Los Angeles Police Department reportedly announced that the flagging economy has coincided with an increase in robberies, and women wearing heels have been frequent targets for purse snatchers and petty thieves. And while sprinting in stilettos seems to work just fine on the silver screen, we wouldn’t recommend that kind of action for San Francisco’s hilly streets.