The Fall Ankle Boot Trend I'm Buying Before Everyone Beats Me to It

I know, I know. July 4 just happened and I'm already thinking about the fall shoe trends I'm going to wear (when it isn't 100 degrees). The thing is, the fall collections debuted on the runways four months ago, and I'm growing weary of my summer wardrobe, so I'm understandably anxious to at least start thinking about my future fall purchases.

I typically start my fall shopping with boots, jeans, and outerwear (in that order), and I've officially decided that the first boot trend that everyone will buy is platform boots. Over the years, the platform boot trend has crept in and out of relevance, and the decades that most quickly come to mind today are the 1960s and '70s and again in the 1990s.

Now, as evidenced by many of the F/W 19 runways (think Stella McCartney, Dries Van Noten, Michael Kors, Alexachung), platform ankle boots are set for a big comeback. The show attendees clearly caught on quickly, as the street style scene during the F/W 19 fashion weeks earlier this year was already saturated with high platform boots. Ready to see the evidence?

Keep scrolling to see the platform boot trend throughout history, on the F/W 19 runways, and on the fashion week street style scene, and shop the platform ankle boots I currently have my eye on.

Platform Boots in the '70s and '90s

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(Image credit: Central Press/Getty Images)

Actress Nadia Cassini, circa 1972

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(Image credit: Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Olivia Newton-John, circa 1970

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(Image credit: Frank Micelotta/TheImageDirect)

Madonna, circa 2000

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(Image credit: Dave Benett/Getty Images)

Geri Halliwell of The Spice Girls, circa 1997

Platform Boots on the Recent Street Style Scene

At the F/W 19 shows, the fashion crowd proved the versatility of platform boots, pairing them with everything from midi skirts to track pants.

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(Image credit: Edward Berthelot/Getty Images)

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(Image credit: Edward Berthelot/Getty Images)

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(Image credit: Christian Vierig/Getty Images)

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(Image credit: Edward Berthelot/Getty Images)

Platform Boots on the F/W 19 Runways

Designers were creative with the trend, debuting two-tone and exotic skin platform boots.

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(Image credit: Peter White/WireImage)

Longchamp F/W 19

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(Image credit: Peter White/Getty Images)

Dries Van Noten F/W 19

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(Image credit: Peter White/WireImage)

Michael Kors F/W 19

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(Image credit: Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

Alexachung F/W 19

Shop the Best Platform Boots

Next up, 10 fall trends to wear with jeans.

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Allyson Payer
Senior Editor

Allyson is a senior editor for Who What Wear. She joined the company in 2014 as co-founder Katherine Power's executive assistant and over the years has written hundreds of stories for Who What Wear. Prior to her career in fashion, Allyson worked in the entertainment industry at companies such as Sony Pictures Television. Allyson is now based in Raleigh, North Carolina, and is originally from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She holds a BFA in theater. Her path to fashion may not have been linear, but based on the number of fashion magazines she collected as a child and young adult, it was meant to be.