I've worn them as everyday shoes for about 8 years, though for the last 4 they've kind of sat around. They are amazing, well-made boots worth every penny, but they are almost too iconic for their own good. Too recognizable. Personally I think the boot I have, the New Rock Reactor boot, is more versatile than the others. Here are ways I've worn them for everyday wear that are not "mall goth" or trying too hard. At least I hope.
Easy answer: wear them with boot-cut pants and just hide all the buckles. Though, what's the point, then?
My main advice is to NOT wear New Rock boots with any kind of goth brand stuff. No Lip Service, no Hot Topic, no Hell Bunny--none of that stuff. You're already wearing one of the most recognizable brands on your feet. You'll look way too loud if you're brand brand brand from head-to-toe. That's cool for the weekend, but not every day.
One of my favorite ways to wear the boots is with really girlie styles (since I'm not girly at all). Honestly, one of the only ways I can wear a dress like the below and still feel myself is with some mean boots. The focal point is your girly dress and accessories and not your boots. This is toning down your loud boots with something even louder.
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| pro blogging tip--don't paint the walls of your house some crazy color that'll fuck with your camera settings and mess up your skin tone. |
This black-on-black style is pretty much how I wear my New Rocks these days. Don't wear it with "festival" styles or romantic goth tops...only very clean modern/classic styles. as boring as you can go. black t-shirt and long skinny jeans. black shiny leggings and a black tunic top. A leather shirt and a black miniskirt. The no-style style. I think you get it. Laundry day.
This should be obvious, but it might be too literal for some of you. Military styles. I wear them with military styles, which comes and goes in fashion pretty often.
Another way to tone down New Rocks is to...not make them look so fresh-out-of-the-box. Make them look less like New Rocks. One of the ways I used to do this is make my boots look ratty and gutterpunk by undoing the buckles and loosening them, having the top kind of flop around. When I wore them in the 100 degree heat, that's what I did. (I don't do the gutterpunk thing anymore, btw...can't go from midlevel career professional to gutter these days)
You have to undo the laces... I just undid the top one, but two would be more floppier and more gutterpunky. wrap the extra slacked laces around the boot as below. BTW, tighten the remaining laces really good, otherwise it'll be hard to walk in them. For the rest of the outfit, wear what you'd think a murder hobo would wear: vintage denim, loose clothes with sleeves ripped off, shit with holes in it. NO GOTH BRANDS. OR PUNK BRANDS. If you don't want to go murder hobo, you can just wear with the black-on-black style described above for postapocalyptic gothic laundry day.
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| my new rocks are the rattiest new rocks i've seen on the internet TBH. broken front, flames coming off, I've worn the heel down so much it had to be replaced with a work boot heel. had to change out the zippers |
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| blurry... |
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| don't look like 300-dollar boots now, do ya? not on a murder hobo.... |
It's been fun playing dress-up with my old favorite boots. I've had them for 15 years now. Wore the heel down almost a cm through the decorative plate! (you can see where the shoe repair guy added the new work-boot heel.)
Any bloggers out there, please share your tips on how to wear New Rocks in a more subtle/everyday wear kind of way.