Dr. Martens Women's 2976 Leonore Fashion Boot, 9

My 90s self would be so proud of this purchase, as a Gen X I think we get to claim Dr Martens as cultural heritage. I love the look of this boot. I love the fur lining, they are comfortable to wear, and they can be styled with different outfits. I’m really thrilled with this purchase! But I STRUGGLED with the sizing of these shoes. I’m a 7.5 and I generally prefer a tight fit for my shoes, I hate feeling like my foot is floating around in a shoe. But I also need the shoe to be comfortable. So I really struggled with what size to get. Dr Marten’s website recommends ordering a size down.i measure my foot. At anround 9.6 in I should have been good with a 7. And there is a lot of information on the web about how to break in Dr Martens and since they are leather, they are supposed to loosen up over time. I read Amazon reviews about other’s experiences. Most 7.5 people ordered the 8. My husband just bought himself a new pair of cowboy boots and exchanged them for a smaller size because leather stretches. And he broke his boots in and advised me to go smaller. So I ordered the 7. I followed the recommendations about breaking them in. Plus there’s faux fur lining and I figured the fur would flatten out with use. I basically wore them in the house for a little bit at a time and put a small water bottle in the shoe at night to help stretch out the toe box and the dorsal foot piece. There is no insert in this version of Dr Martens with the fur lining, so disregard that. Some people said taking the insert out helped break them in but it must’ve been referencing a different style of shoe. After a couple of days my right foot was still tingling and sightly squished, so I panicked and decided I’d ordered the wrong size after all, and ordered the 8. I put the 8 on and my toes were immediately happier but I have pretty thin ankles and my ankle were now swimming around in the boot. The length was a little too big. My foot was moving a little bit. The socks were falling a bit and the ankle boot was rubbing my skin. They just looked bigger clunkier and oversized. Not as cute as the 7s. I figured if the leather broke in and the fur flattened out they’d be even bigger. I went back and forth multiple times on which size to keep. I finally decided on the 7. I dug in to the breaking in process and a few days in I’ve noticed an improved already. I’ve been in them all day today and I’m fine. It was a process. Buying shoes on the internet is not easy. Hopefully some of this info is helpful to someone though! Buy them, wear them, love them, and be your bada$$ self 😝.