Last summer when every influential dresser began pairing jean shorts with cowboy boots, I had my reservations. After all, combining shorts with boots was always considered a faux pas—what’s changed? Eventually, like with most controversial trends, I came around, but something about the duo never quite added up for me. This season, however, a new shorts-and-boots combo is garnering attention. And this time around, I’m 100% game.
Rather than full-on Dukes of Hazzard, 2022’s version of the shorts-with-boots trend is a bit tamer, with Bermuda-length shorts subbing in for cutoffs and knee-high riding boots taking the place of Western styles. The result? An extremely wearable combination that allows you to show off this year’s biggest footwear trend in an elevated and put-together way. Plus, it looks really (really) cool.
Keep scrolling to see how the shorts-with-boots trend is being done, both on Instagram and the runway, in 2022.