Men are sometimes concerned with fashion considerations, such as the color of boots to wear with certain colors of clothing, particularly for office wear.
In my opinion, such color-matching considerations do not matter when a guy is wearing denim jeans since boots and jeans go well together in any combination. However, the color-matching concerns could be an issue, albeit more of a personal one, with dress clothes.
Most everyone wants to be accepted among "the in group" -- "the cool crowd" -- those who are admired and lead the pack. In straight male culture, the "kool kids" are the Alpha Males. In gay culture, these are the "A-Gays." If you get an alpha male or a-gay to like you and accept you among his friends, invite you to his events -- anything from "lunch with the gang" or a "pick up motorcycle ride among us friends" or a "night out on the town" -- then "you've made it."
Or have you?
I can hardly believe it has been a whole year. One year ago today, I held the hand of my 96-year-old aunt as she lay bewildered, uncomfortable, and miserable in a hospital bed. She briefly opened her eyes, and asked where she was and what happened.
... a brief interlude of lucidity among the deep clouds that Alzheimer's Disease wrought on her brain.
I explained that she had a heart attack, and that she was being treated in a hospital.
"A hospital? I don't want to be here...".
Kid you not, this was a question that landed a visitor to this blog. Unfortunately, it was directed to a post where I discussed differences between Chippewa and Wesco boots, not Frye. Oh well, here goes... what are the major comparisons between Frye and Wesco boots?
Hmmm... like what's the difference between a Yugo and a Harley?
I enjoy receiving messages from people all over the world who visit this blog and my website.
Unfortunately, there are times when I receive an email bounce, which reads like this:
Another search that landed a visitor to my "Cowboy Boots Tutorial" on my website. The searcher asks, "can I wear dress shoes with a cowboy hat?"
... and the searcher is from McKinney, Texas?
Really? ... the state with the most cowboy boot-wearing men in the U.S.? Really?
Note from BHD: The following guest blog post was written by my friend Kevin who has written guest blog pieces before and comments frequently on this blog. He was invited by a friend who lives in Washington, DC, to visit and drop by to see what Mid-Atlantic Leather (MAL) weekend was all about. Here are his observations. (Sorry, no photos, but I learned a few years ago that there are some closet cases who get very upset if their image of them at MAL appears anywhere, so for respect of those who don't want to be seen there, I have no photos to post with this message).
My weekend trip to DC was fantastic and I was quite pleased and pleasantly surprised to discover that my friend planned for me to visit this past weekend because MAL was happening and he knew that I wouldn't venture there by myself. My preconceived ideas would have gotten the better of me and I would have missed out on a truly important growth experience. I am indeed fortunate that I can be myself with them and they love me unconditionally. As a result, I'm learning to strip away the barriers I've built over a lifetime. I'm thankful to have supportive and loving friends who allow me to do so.
The following guest blog was written by someone from Belgium who visited this blog, read many of my previous posts, and sent me an email. He brings to light interesting points about views of masculinity, women's roles in today's society, influence on choices of clothing, and more specifically, boots as a choice of male footwear.
In honor and respect of privacy, I will not reveal the writer's name or contact information, but if you have comments, please leave them on this post or write to me and I will forward your comments to him.
Guest Blog from a Straight Man in Belgium
For me, a man's sexual orientation is not important. But as a straight man (married, with 3 kids) I notice how many straight guys are in fact very insecure and confused.
Today, Monday, marks a holiday in the United States. I have the day off from work. It also marks the end of "leather weekend." While I did not attend any of the Mid-Atlantic Leather Weekend events, I did have some time yesterday to take some photos of me in a new-to-me pair of Dehner patrol boots that arrived on Friday.
I was going to take a short ride on my Harley yesterday to break these boots in, but it was too darn cold, so I just leathered up, posted photos to my website, and enjoyed my partner's company.
What's special about these boots, and don't I have enough Dehner Boots already?
Welcome to leather weekend in the 'burbs. That is, the suburbs of Washington DC where Mid-Atlantic Leather Weekend -- aka "the leather weekend" -- is being held. Been there, done that, got the boots shined, smoked the cigar, ate the greasy chow....
So what is "Leather Weekend" like for an old-guard (alt. "old fart") leather dude who is not going to MAL and hanging out in the 'burbs?
Well, it's just about here -- as I call it -- the "second-largest gathering of the Leather Clan in the USA" (largest gathering still being International Mr. Leather in Chicago on the last weekend of May). I have had a few guys contact me to ask if I am going to MAL, but as I said in my previous post, I am not. There are other things going on in my life that make MAL a no-go for me this year.
For those of you who ARE traveling to DC to attend MAL, especially those traveling by air, let me share some quick tips, based on my "Air Travel with Leather Gear" tutorial.
Yep, it's that time of year again for the second-largest gathering of the leather clan in the United States -- an event called Mid-Atlantic Leather. It begins on Friday, January 13, and runs through Sunday night/Monday morning with a dance.
Leather, boots, hormone-driven gay men... all in one place in Washington, DC.
Okay, I've got the boots, leather gear, and last I checked, my hormones are still working. Will I be attending?
I received an email recently where someone asked me some questions about wearing boots with certain clothing choices. In that message, he also said,
I have recently acquired yellow Tony Lama boots and a pair of orange Dan Post boots. I plan on wearing them with jeans over the boots, but do not know what type of shirt to wear and not look like a Mexican.
Really? Honestly, this caught me by surprise. Does a certain combination of jeans over colorful boots and a certain kind or color of shirt make one "look like a Mexican?"
Welcome to post #1400 on this blog. Regular readers have been accustomed to a new post each day, but I've pretty much run out of new content -- or at least enough to write a new post for each day, 365 days/year.
For a while, unless there is breaking news, I will scale back to a new post every other day and see how that goes.
The Light of My Life, my partner, my best friend, my soulmate, my everything, has been seriously ill for over a month now. On top of some sort of neurological problem which occurs at random and is severe when it happens, he has a really bad cold which has persisted for more than a week. Something is really wrong. He has never had something like a cold last more than a few days, and seldom even gets one.
My partner and I are worried, and are at a loss about what to do. He has seen so many specialists that if there were stock in "doctors" and we owned just one share, we would be rich. He has gone through so many tests that he is glowing in the dark. All the tests, so far, are "inconclusive."
A while back, someone wrote to me to ask my advice on how to remove a strong smell of fragrance from a pair of boots she bought via eBay. Another guy wrote recently with a similar question -- how to remove smoke odor from a leather jacket previously worn by a heavy smoker.
There are a lot of home remedies and folklore out there. In my opinion and based on experience, most of the home remedies do not work. Here is what works, and why....
I was sent an email a while back stating, "I would like to find a good leather jacket. DO NOT want some every day model like you see every other middle-aged corn-fed golf dolt wearing. You know the type I mean. YAWN. I want something a bit more badass than that, but don't want something way out there. You know, too much. Too buckly, zippery. Something in the middle. Any suggestions of what to look for?"
My reply?
Seldom does the weather cooperate on 1 January, but this year it did. The temperatures did not get as warm as predicted, but warm enough -- 50F (10C). It brought out a lot of bikers for my club's annual "polar bear ride."
I attended my usual New Year's party with my best friend and his large, raucous Italian family last night. (My partner does not go to this party with me due to the noise and confusion.) We cook a huge breakfast, served at 11:30pm, then ring in the new year with champagne (and ginger ale for me.) I return home by 12:30am, and usually find my partner asleep on the sofa. But he awakens, and we have our own small celebration, then hit the sack.
