I passed a girl wearing a pair of Loeffler Randall

rain booties the other day and they looked so chic! You couldn’t even tell at first that they were rubber!

They seem like a much more practical option than Hunter Wellies which often aren’t: first, it’s too warm (today’s forecast calls for rain and 78 degrees); and, more often than not, there’s a 50/50 chance that it actually won’t rain when the weatherman says it will. It stinks (um, literally?) to walk around in rubber boots, lugging an umbrella once the skies have cleared. Those who work in an office will often wear their boots to work and then swap them for the heels under their desks (or the flats rolled up in their purses), but what about on the weekends?

Recently I traded in my tall wellies for the all-black Bean boots below and I’m so much happier to walk around in them for hours if I’m far away from home and the sun breaks out. They’d also be much easier to pack for a rainy destination (like London, lately, I’ve heard lamented).

Here are some other good rain boot(ie) options for spring–or travel…

[From top left, clockwise: Hunter Brixen Boot

; L.L. Bean 8″ Bean boot; Sperry Top-Sider Rain Drop Waterproof Boots; Clyde Rain Boot for Steven Alan by Totoosh; Bogs Rue Gum Rubber Shoe; Bogs Charlot Rain Chukka]

And Hunter’s Brixen Boot

could stand in for Doc Marten’s with jeans–or with a floral dress, a la Angela Chase or Alicia Silverstone circa Clueless. “The dream of the 90s is alive…”

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