The photography is by Jaryd Niles-Morris; an upcoming photographer from my island Barbados who continues to grow each more every day! And the model is Raymond Ward, also an upcoming local talent and also a very good friend of mine.
The font may be a bit small on the pics so I will just post it here along with the pics. Hope you enjoy :D
From Necessity to Accessory….
In the beginning our purpose was simple; protect our wielders from any immediate hardships they face. These ranged from mundane things like dirt and rocks, to the hazardous materials like shattered glass and metal fragments. Because of this we were constructed to handle the task required of us. Our hides were honed from the finest leather, to keep feet insulated from the elements. Our soles were crafted from the sturdiest rubber, to protect the tender heels of men. And sometimes steel tips were placed over the toes; ensuring that they weren’t harmed while in the line of battle. In essence; every one of our features were born out of necessity; they weren’t supposed to be trendy nor were they supposed to ‘hip.’ And we were fine with that; afterall boots were made for security not fashion.
Thus we didn’t complain when we helped slay 2000 British soldiers in the Battle of New Orleans in 1815. We didn’t scoff at the sand and water spraying on our hides, while we assisted Napoleons troops in driving the Prussians out to sea at the village of Waterloo. Blood and soot was the least of our concerns when we trudged through the trenches of the Western Front. Neither were the bits of shrapnel burning our soles, when we outran intense cannon-fire from the Second Panzer Unit in the frost-ridden streets of Leningrad. Indeed we worked hard and we worked well, and even though their minds were scarred after trampling the rotting corpses of Vietnamese children, our wearer’s feet were still intact when they returned home.
Some may argue that guns or grenades were the essentials of any soldier’s arsenal, but we all know that the biggest weapon they had in war were the army boots.
Nevertheless times of peace drew near as humanity took further steps to understand and respect one another, and thus war was quickly becoming a thing of the past. There was once a time when we faced the reality of being obsolete, well that was until mankind took our uses to not another level. Some genius (really) decided to use us for civilian means. Instead of camouflage and helmets we were accompanied by jeans and leather jackets. Vulgar lyrics and heavy beats adorned our presence instead of onerous gunfire and explosions. And pretty soon our purpose was made to stylize teenagers instead of protecting hardened warriors.
We were transformed from necessity to accessory….
Some of us felt great shame because of this while others were strictly received. Embracing the frivolous additions they added to our form like; replacing our leather uppers skins with fabric so that they folded down, or decorating our insides with tacky little logos so more people can buy us, or (worse yet to some) painting our practical onyx or tan color into something more fashionable- like pink or baby blue. Surely we were no longer the footwear of a resolute soldier. A fact that would make the proudest boot woe.
So where do we go from here? Should we accept what we have become or continue to gripe about old times? Well whatever we do only time will tell, as day by day humans are evolving new ways to keep us contemporary and preserving our existence.
