Leather Boots: From Catwoman to Finding the Perfect Pair

When I was 15, I convinced my dad to buy me a whip—from Hot Topic. I borrowed thigh-high leather boots from my mom’s friend to complete my Domme Halloween costume. (I told my parents I was dressing up as Catwoman, naturally.)

Something about the archetype of thigh-high leather boots has always appealed to me. Arguably, they were one of my first real draws to the aesthetics of a D/s lifestyle.

By 19, I was training at an oldguard BDSM chateau in upstate New York every other weekend. Under the oldguard training style, I had to earn my leathers. The first of which were a pair of thigh-high leather boots that were passed down to me from the Mistress who trained me.

For me, thigh-high leather boots and dominance have always been inherently linked—not just because of Catwoman and other pop culture icons. Leather boots are a talisman. They are an embodiment of my power that allows me to literally and figuratively step into it.

While I continued to earn more leathers throughout my training, it was the leather boots that stuck with me and continued to have that effect on me (and many others). There’s something about the way thigh-high leather boots highlight and expose, yet conceal and obfuscate the desired flesh, isn’t there?

After I left the chateau upstate, my personal boot collection really started to expand as my connections with boot fetishists all over the world grew.

I recall one particular boot fetishist I met who had a Catwoman fetish, specifically. We talked about the specifics, the minor details of thigh-high leather boots for hours. His specificity and painstaking attention to detail gave me space to consider where my preferences overlapped and where they differed.

Around the same time, I had a submissive who was a sommelier. One of the services he offered me was bringing me a bottle of wine to each weekly session. I would use him as a human footstool, place my boots on his back and open whichever bottle he brought me that week. He helped teach me to develop my palate. I was learning to smell, then taste. Visualize, then isolate flavors. Evaluate texture and body.

I went through a very similar process with thigh-high leather boots. As I did, my collection grew to represent my particular desires and fetishes… the types of boots I deem worthy of worship.

My first boot submissive and I would spend hours talking about what we found desirable in leather boots. During a session, he gifted me with two pairs of boots: quintessential Catwoman thigh-high leather boots and Jimmy Choo knee-high leather boots with gold details. The latter gave me the same feeling my sommelier sub gave me when he selected the perfect bottle of wine. They were the first pair that truly felt like my style, that I would wear on a daily basis. I had found the boots that fit my own personal, refined fetish aesthetics.

When I purchased a pair of low heel thigh-high leather boots, my energy changed because they were actually wearable. It was not so much the height of the heel, but the suppleness of the leather. More than once, women followed me on the street to ask me where I got them. “No matter how much they cost, they were worth it,” they said. “I didn’t pay for them,” I laughed.

There’s power in being able to articulate your fetish in detail. Having someone to talk about your fetishes with creates the space you need to hone in on that power.

In my last session with my first boot submissive, he bought me two pairs of leather boots and showed me a side of himself that I hadn’t seen before. “If you’re my girlfriend, you can have both.” Naturally, I took one pair and bought the other myself. I never saw him again. I had outgrown my taste for him, but my taste for boots was just starting to flourish.

Today, I’m one of New York City’s top dominatrixes with over a decade of experience studying power dynamics in many modalities. I have a sizeable boot collection, including those thigh-high leather boots from the chateau all those years ago. And yet… I still struggle to put into words exactly what it is that I’m looking for in a pair of leather boots.

I know that I derive energy and power from them. I have pairs that are just for play, but love pairs I can wear daily, too. When it comes to everyday leather boots, I think thick heel, slight platform boots that play on 90s fetishwear styles are most worthy of worship.

Perhaps you’d like to help me continue to refine my palate for boots or share your boot fetish with me. Perhaps we can learn things from one another and expand what we thought was possible from where our fetish began. Want to beg for the opportunity to worship my boots? Say, “Please, Mistress.”