Best Shoes to Wear at Burning Man
There are so many things to think about when making the pilgrimage to Black Rock City. Get your shoe situation sorted ahead of time so you can focus on the dusty fun. After burning for 7 years, I sort my shoes into 3 categories:
functional hot
fun + functional hot
strictly fun for a short time hot
This sounds silly, and for some, this way of thinking/packing isn’t for them. A gal like myself always brings 4-7 pairs of shoes/boots. If this sounds like your vibe, you’re in the right place keep reading.
My shoe choices range from flat platform, tall slightly heeled platform, and outrageous fresh out of the stables platform. I like to bring a combination of all three and the same thing happens every year. Each pair of shoes is worn at least once, but a favorite or two emerges that is worn as a go-to when I’m heading out on that random mission or to the portos.
In 2022, these are the shoes I brought:
Demonia - Emily-375 in black str vegan leather
Demonia - Damned-225 in black hologram vegan leather
Naked Wolfe Saviour in black leather (discontinued + do not recommend unless you get the entire platform reattached to the sole of the shoe by a shoe cobbler)
Demonia - Swing-221 in black canvas-vegan leather
Darker Wavs - Atmosphere Double Stack Field Girl Traitor Boots
Demonia - type unknown, these were a gift from Mary.
Overall my top two favorites were my Demonia - Damned + surprisingly my Naked Wolfe boots. These were the ones that broke on me only an hour after wearing them for the first time at EDCLV. What a nightmare. I took them to a shoe cobbler here and paid to get both soles fixed and attached better to the boot.
I love tall boots and have worn the Demonia Swing + Demonia Emily to the playa before with great success. They always look great and are so comfy.
I took a chance on the Widow boots as they have an 8” platform and felt like a baby horse but I loved the look of them and would bring/wear them again.
my Darker Wav boots are an all-time favorite for events here but I only ended up wearing them out once on playa.
What I always revert back to is a boot that is solid, comfortable, gives me some height, and looks dope. I never wear any shoes for the first time at the burn with the exception of the Widow platforms in which I walked around my apartment for a few hours just to make sure they were walkable.
Good luck with your boot hunt! As always, feel free to ask any questions. :)
