If there’s one thing I’m allowed to claim I’m an expert on, on account of being a life-long resident of Chicago, it’s knowing how to weather unexpected terrain. Yes, referring to the streets of the third-largest city in the country as “terrain” sounds dramatic, but it couldn’t be further from it. On any given day, we could have sun and blue skies turn into a downpour and then sleet and freezing rain and then a full-blown snowstorm within a matter of hours (and it isn’t even that uncommon!).
The worst accounts of this are always the days I didn’t dress for it; when I got dressed for a 50-and-sunny day in my favorite outfit and then had to walk 1.5 miles to the train station after work slipping in fresh-fallen snow. And a lot of my shoes have suffered a quick, unexpected death because of it.
But you don’t need to sacrifice style for shoes that can survive the elements anymore; there are a ton of boots on the market that look just like your favorite, stylish ones, but are also waterproof—and therefore leave you prepared for any weather surprise that might arise. These 15 boots will save you from style emergencies this winter:
