Knee High, Knee Scrapers, OTK's, Thigh Boots, Crotch High

I thought it might be helpful to clarify some of the criteria I use when deciding to give a boot a particular height label.   I'll leave debates about the relative merits of 4 vs 4 1/2 inch heels to the heel-heads. As a shafty my emphasis will always be on shaft height.

Logically, we use the muscles and joints of the leg as reference points. As I've said many times before, what are called ankle "boots" are merely shoes with delusions of grandeur, hence unworthy of this discussion. Like their only slightly less depraved and degenerate cousin the calf-high boot (which rises to cover the Achilles tendon but below the curve of the calf muscle) they are usually beneath notice. Exceptions can be made in rare circumstances, say if young Helen Mirren is demanding that her boots be kissed. 

Ironically, a proper knee high boot does not actually reach the knee. Certainly, it climbs noticeably above the curve of the calf muscle, but usually stops below the spot where the hamstrings attach to the tibia(say an inch or two below the actual knee-cap).

The two most common "knee-scrapers" are a properly fitted riding boot and many of the 70's style platform boots. When fully pulled up, at least part of a "knee-scraper" will cover some part of the knee joint and most of the rest of the boot is very close to that joint.

Things get a little tricky when we move into OTK vs thigh high.  There's an area an inch or two above the knee cap that's more tendon and bone than muscle. This is the territory of the over the knee boot. For me, an OTK boot is one that completely covers the actual bend of the knee when the leg is straight and the boot pulled up. With a bent knee or a slight slouch of the material, an OTK may drop down towards knee-scraper height.

A thigh high boot reaches well into the meat of the thigh and will cover the entire knee at all times, sitting or standing and only in the most extreme (and undesirable) cases would the material droop below the knee.  Thigh boots have the most flexibility in terms of height variance. Boots that reach the lower thigh, mid-thigh or upper thigh are all called thigh high boots.

It's only when the shaft approaches within a hand's breadth of the apex of the thigh that I'd call them crotch high.  Few fashion/street boots earn this label. One notable and glorious exception is the tallest of the Wild Pair boots. A well known boot-historian once dubbed them, "the finest boots ever sold in an American shopping mall."

Author's note-I was going to include photos to illustrate my points. I started writing this 6 weeks ago and kept getting bogged down finding the "perfect" picture. Rather than waste the whole text, I decided to post it as is.