Floral Dress with Doc Martens

There’s nothing more fun than mixing and matching different styles! A summer trend I’ve seen from Autum Rain (@autumrainn) and other fashion bloggers is pairing a floral summer dress with Doc Marten boots. It’s a harmonious mix of sweet and tough, punk and girly. Today I’m going to walk you through the ups and downs of wearing an outfit like this around town.

I actually wear my black Doc Marten boots often, even to work. A gift from my mother who was supportive of my punk-goth phase, I’ve worn these Doc Martens since I was twelve, making them officially twelve years old today. Since I first got them, these boots have gone through many fashion trends; paired with skinny jeans and a black shirt, they made the perfect emo outfit I wore in middle school; at sixteen I graduated to wearing them with floral skirts and black tights for a retro-grunge look; and now they are great for managing Boston’s snow covered, cobblestone streets.

For the summer, most people don’t think boots, especially black ones, but I invite you to open your mind and look at K-pop for an example of how a crop top and miniskirt with Doc Martens can be a great summer look. Of course, that style fits in with street fashion, and what the ‘youth,’ as I call them, are wearing these days. But what about something us old farts can pull-off?

I give you the floral skirt with doc martens. Whether they’re paired with a long flowy dress (like this one from Clad & Cloth) that almost covers the boots from sight or with a shorter length to show them off proudly, the boots with the floral print add a complex layer to a traditional summer outfit. After all, how many times can you wear a floral skirt and a jean jacket without getting bored?

I took to working off the 90’s grunge vibe of my Doc Martens, and paired the outfit with a high ponytail that showed off my disheveled do. For accessories, a black felt hat from Modcloth and 60’s-inspired, black sunglasses from Banana Republic, made me feel like one badass. It was enough to make me strike poses I never would have otherwise.

This outfit is the embodiment of my personality, sweet and tough. Once a punk, always a punk, as I say. If you’ve been following along, you’ll have already pick up on my more feminine, cute, and preppy style choices. However, that doesn’t mean I don’t love grunge, goth, and punk looks. One of my goals in life is to own a version of Slash’s top hat, Syd’s ripped skinny jeans, and any outfit ever worn by members of My Chemical Romance, Panic! At the Disco, Fall Out Boy, and The Cranberries.

Of course, I do worry about how thick my legs look in doc martens—because you know, anxiety and body image, but I actually was able to work through that, and appreciate how long the boots make my legs look. All in all, I’m in love with this outfit and how it makes me feel.