Whether you’re trying to match your footwear with your western-inspired apparel or aiming to add some masculinity to spring’s delicacy, rustic boots are spring’s go to footwear piece. All the rage in Europe, short cowgirl styles (think mini cowboy boots), denim booties and even classic Frye riding boots are as plenty as the florals on our skirts and dresses.

For the year round urban cowgirl, consider Jeffery Campbell. Always a sound investment, Campbell’s Nation Ankle booties were the Editor’s Pick on Shop Bop and a neutral balance for someone intending to stretch their dollar. The rubber heel lifts - three inches to be exact - and the booties look great with skirts and denim. For the rocker chic, Campbell offers black studded pairs that compliment styles with less country and more city. To diversify and lighten your spring bootie selection, go for denim rather than leather - like Ash Tyler denim wedge booties. And if you are saving your scrilla or you’re just more of a handbag girl, go ahead and rock your own Frye riding boots with denim cut offs or an eyelet lace dress.
 

Emma Dinzebach

Sometimes boho lends itself to country. This season’s cowboys are cowgirls, and their apparel isn’t really right for mucking the hay. In addition to our fringed leather boots and favorite fringed satchel, spring’s necessities give way to how the west was really one. And you don’t have to be Miley Cyrus to wear them.

With corsets galore, girly gingham, polkadot prints and many ways to wear denim, denim and more denim. From the top down, casual denim bustiers are all the rage for tops. They hold in your love handles while showing off your yoga-toned back. Styles with ruffles at the bottom make women with less-than-tone tummies feel more comfortable. Top Shop has several versions in denim, lace and lovely ruffles. Roll up the sleeve on your clean button up tops and use them to pair with this season’s denim. DKNY Jeans Jr. has ripped white denim skinnies for just $69 or for a grayer shade, opt for AG’s stilt cigarette jean. In shorts, daisy dukes get a makeover. Don’t throw out your old cut offs, but consider purchasing a pair with cleaner lines, detailed edges or a higher waist.

Eyelet lace and ruffles offset the boyish feel of ankle boots and cowboy hats and frumpy feel of moccasins, so go ahead and mix your girly and lacy pieces with your denim and boots. Simple dresses and that old cardigan can be spiced up with western waist belts and denim vests. Add in some turquoise jewelry to top off your look, and show your neighbor how to walk the line.

Emma Dinzebach

Not one for hemp sandals and dreads, I was momentarily resistant to the boho revival until I tasted Proenza Schouler Spring 2010 tie dye, Love Shop maxi dresses, and Rika scarves. Then I thought maybe there is still something fashion can derive from hippies.

Boho, a style that Sienna Miller made famous and Kooba made into a Sienna handbags, is a nickname for bohemian - a person who lives and acts free of regard to conventional rules and practices. Like the varied print combinations that pranced down the Spring 2010 runways, for fashion, being boho means mixing and matching like it’s nobody’s business. Denim with lace, tie dye t-shirts and skirts - you name it, it goes. Anything goes! Well, almost anything.

To pull off boho, you have to embody boho’s spontaneous style and attraction to comfort. If you love your Madewells or live all summer in your Vince cuffed jean shorts, this is the season for you. Everything boho goes with denim - denim dresses, denim bibs, and vests. Flouncy, printed shirts and soft pima cottons can be worn alone or layered. To pull off this look the style is in the details. Necklaces, bracelets, rugged boots and headwraps make your boho look your own. Don’t be afraid to mix and match (with some purpose) you’re favorite pieces. And while you’re busy coloring outside the lines, have fun.

Peace, Love & Proenza.

Emma Dinzebach

Swamping curtains in my quest to dirt-proof my apartment

Having read the New York Times article “Soil in the City” on the current state of the city’s dirt factor, I quickly decided to chuck my haven’t-been-washed-since-I-bought-them curtains for the sake of my allergies. Seeing that $400 to shampoo my sofa, chairs, and rugs is something I have in my “probably should but won’t” to-do list, I decided to go the cheaper route and give another soot proofing technique some thought. I decided to take some advice on switching out your dusty, old curtains from interior designer Jayne Michaels who has to contend with dirt wafting into her East 57^th Street apartment. It’s so bad that her bath water turned black the last time she had to rinse and soak her curtains.

Naturally I first headed over to IKEA and spotted these sheer panel curtains in a muted black and white bamboo print (Anno Unni, $29.99) in polyester.

Michaels mentioned that she swapped linen drapes for ones made of “wash and wear” polyester but seeing as finding cute polyester curtains was a rare feat I also looked at some cotton ones. For $20, I spotted these two pretty blossom prints at Urban Outfitters.