A Republican presidential candidate wore a pair of black boots with a heel and the news media took notice, over and over again.
It started Monday when New York Times reporter Michael Barbaro posting a photo on Twitter of Sen. Marco Rubio’s legs and feet, adorned by a pair of shiny boots that sported a thick heel.
“Marco Rubio is rocking some seriously fashionable black boots today in New Hampshire,” remarked Barbaro on the photo. As late as Thursday, the boots were still a source of intrigue among the media.
Marco Rubio is rocking some seriously fashionable black boots today in New Hampshire. pic.twitter.com/lwiSWuuCUt
— Michael Barbaro (@mikiebarb) January 4, 2016
The Times’ fashion columnist ran an article under the paper’s politics section that said “a surprising focus on Senator Marco Rubio’s shiny, stack-heeled ankle boots … has grown over the last few days into one of the weirder firestorms of the presidential campaign…”
It was the second piece the Times published on the subject. Barbaro, who tweeted out the now-famous boots photo, was moved to explain his thoughts and the background behind the image in his own column on Wednesday.
He explained that the photo was originally sent to him by a photo editor “but because I was the retail reporter at the Times for years, highly attuned to sartorial matters…” Barbaro added that he is also “the owner of a few pairs of hefty-heeled boots.”
MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough mocked the boots two days in a row. On Thursday, Scarborough repeatedly referred to Rubio’s footwear as “go go boots.” The day before, he compared them to the exaggerated 1970s fashion themes of the “Austin Powers” comedy movie.
“Can we talk about Marco Rubio’s stylish boots for a second?” said a blog post at the Washington Post.
Politico asked Rubio’s campaign where the boots were from and how much they cost.
And CBS News dubbed them “shiny black booties with a bit of a heel.”
Rubio’s GOP rivals also took turns on the boots. Rand Paul called them “cute new boots” and Rick Tyler, communications director for the Ted Cruz campaign, wrote on Twitter that “a vote for Marco Rubio is a vote for men’s high-heeled booties.”
The Rubio campaign did not return a request for comment.
