Trendy new boots

Every year, throngs of women wait excitedly for boot season to begin, and with good reason. Few things complete an outfit like a sleek new pair of kicks, and this year variety is the spice of life -- with all manner of colors, heights, heels and materials available at the tips of our toes.Ankle Biters: For some woman, size means everything, and they've never met a pair of too-tall boots that were, indeed, too tall. Others know that the versatility garnered from a cute pair of ankle boots is hard to argue with.Paired with pants, they've got the strong statement of tall boots without the excess bulk. They also work well with skirts of varied lengths -- but beware: the shorter the skirt, the more you're going to want to love to flaunt your legs. Ankle booties are available everywhere, with a nice selection at paylessshoes.com, starting at under $30.Color Me Bad: Weather you're into purple haze, gray skys or red robins, you'll have no trouble finding a pair of boots to express the most colorful side of your personality this season. Zappos.com has boots galore, including a beautiful suede Bonanza pair by Steve Madden ($89) that comes in an array of cool colors.Well-Heeled: For some, the sky's the limit when it comes to heels. But, luckily, for those who wear boots both for form and for function, flat heels and very low heels are in -- and incredibly stylish. Knee-high and polished are a nice look with a skirt, and barefeetshoes.com has all manner of majestic flat boots, ranging from under $30. Bonus: Buy two or more items and get free shipping.A Cut Above the Rest: Count on everything from belts, buckles, fringe, bells and pleather adorning this year's boots. And definitely count on cutouts, particularly in bootie form, which I see as the more buttoned-up version of the popular gladiator shoe. There's a canvas-with-leather-trim, peep-toe bootie at urbanoutfitters.com for $19.99.If you take one thing away from this column, it's that this season boots aren't just made for walking. They are definitely made for strutting your stuff.(Helen Malani is the chief shopping expert for Shopzilla.com, a Scripps Networks Interactive company, and the largest comparison-shopping search engine on the Web. E-mail Helen at askhelen(at)shopzilla.com.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)