Why Buy: Cougar Snow Boots

($200, CougarBoots.com)

Welcome back to Why Buy, people! Why Buy is where we try something awesome and tell you why you should buy it. Today's thing you should DEFINITELY buy is a pair of Cougar Boots. (Disclosure: I was sent a pair to review by the kindly people at Matchstick).

Okay, you know that sigh of relief you either think in your head or actually audibly emit when you collapse into a comfy couch (Side note: Is there ANYTHING better than a comfy couch to come home to? Well, besides a comfy bed. But the comfy couch is your first stop before a comfy bed. You really need both. As usual, it appears I have digressed greatly)? Well that is EXACTLY what happened, both literally and figuratively, when I stepped into my new pair of Cougar Ringo Star boots when I unboxed them.

I got my Ringo Star boots in black, and they're nylon (with suede trim) and lined with what must be heaven-sent baby lamb's wool but is actually synthetic fur that just FEELS like baby lamb's wool. These things are like wearing a warm blanket. Oh, and since they're Canadian, they're built to withstand serious chill, severe weather, and they say "house," it sounds like "moose." (Just joking on that last part, but I WISH these boots talked.)

More selling points! They lace all the way up to just below my knee, and you can fold them down so they make this great faux-fur cuff effect. And they're quietly rugged (like a fancy lumberjack), and I'd even go so far as to say that you could wear them as "cute boots" and not just snow boots. Or both! Julie Christie as Lara in "Dr. Zhivago" would've worn these as they would've matched her babushka perfectly. Sigh... Russia.

Cougar also makes tons of rain boots, like these Regal rain boots, which are a cool take on motorcycle boots:

... as well as this particularly intriguing, though not necessarily Russian, pair I also like.

($124, Cougar Boots, Zappos.com)

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!

So last weekend, as I trudged through the snowdrifts in upstate New York while planning both my summer wedding (yay!) and some future, hypothetical snowboarding/skiing weekend, I became acutely aware of the need for snow boots. I don't know about you, but even though I got my suede Michael Kors wedge boots at a consignment store, I don't really like plunging them into unknowable depths of murky gray slush. Call me crazy. And then today I woke up, got dressed for the gym, and emerged into the cold only to find a veritable blizzard (for New York City standards, anyway). Clearly winter is not going away. And so: snow boots!



Unfortunately my top pick, the weirdly fashionable (and weirdly likable) Sorel Caribou boots, are nowhere to be found (in my size, anyway), and hell if I'm gonna venture out into the white to find 'em.

Instead, I got these:



Sorel 1964 Pac boots, $79.99 but $63.99 with handy-dandy coupon code BFF09, which takes 20% off any shoes.com purchase. They'll get the job done, and I need to lay off the purple, anyway.

Of course now it's afternoon, and the sun is shining. Grumble grumble!