Most of us wear trail runners instead of boots these days. I made the switch from boots to trail runners a little over a year ago and would never go back (well, I still wear the boots when hiking in snow, but not otherwise). Yes, the colors are awful (most women's trail runners feature my two least favorite colors, what I call "bink and burple"). Fortunately, a half an hour on a dusty trail (even if it isn't muddy) takes care of that problem!
Take the Trail Runner Mafia with a grain of salt. Some of us that do frequently use trailrunners, also frequently use boots, depending on what conditions we anticipate seeing.
Basically for me I would boil it down to:
1) If I expect rough off trail conditions or severe weather and/or snow, I take boots.
2) If I'm on an established trail most of the time, without snow, I take trailrunners.
But I'm the wrong guy to ask about how it looks. My darling wife is appalled at some of the colors, especially those that I tell her I got on sale because it was this hideous colour.. To me it's all about function and comfort, with a few exceptions (I don't like dark black or blue tents / tarps because they make me wanna get all depressed, etc.)