Last Updated on 2 years by Naveen Kumar
We might all not be Carrie Bradshaw, but us women definitely love our shoes!
How often have we all adored a perfect dress on someone, staring in awe from head to toe, only to realize that their shoes (or footwear) spoiled it all! That’s true, its an understated reality which so many of us do not pay much attention to, at least most of the time; your footwear can make or break your whole outfit!
You might be wearing that perfect LBD or a well fitted pencil skirt and chose a pair of flip flop like sandals to go with it, then you have fully got it wrong and no Manolo Blahnik can save you!
Hence, to make things a bit easy, here is a little guide to help you women choose the right footwear to go with your outfits according the length of your skirt (or outfit).
Footwear-Dress Length Guide
Now for the purpose of the guide, let’s divide the dress lengths into 5 general categories: Full or Maxi length, Calf length, Knee length, Above the Knee or Thigh length and Minis.
Full or Maxi length
With full length skirts or dresses, strappy sandals are a great idea, so are bellies or ballerinas, wedges and flip flops. If you are looking to wear a casual maxi skirt or maxi dress during the day, then strappy sandals or comfortable low heel wedges are ideal and for a more slightly more sophisticated outfit during the evenings like a party or fancy event, you can match them with strappy heels.
With maxis, avoid pumps ideally, but if you really want to wear heels, you could maybe pick peep toes. Also, you could choose platform heels.
Calf length
Footwear ideal for any calf length or below the knee length skirt or dress includes wedges, kitten heels, peep toes, sneakers, loafers and stilettos. Strappy sandals might not really be a great idea to pair with this. Even knee high boots go well with calf length or midi style outfits.
Tip: Since your footwear would be visible, to create a statement look, you can try choosing a shoe or sandal that has detailing in it like loafers with tassels. Similarly, try to pick your footwear in a complimenting or contrasting shade.
Knee length
Of course, today sneakers are making a great fashion trend and are seen being paired even with lehengas! But truly, sneakers do make a great combination with knee length dresses and skirts and look very sporty and chic. Also, great are wedges, peep toes and kitten heels.
Above the Knee or Mid Thigh Length
Wedges, bellies, loafers, ankle length boots and sandals are perfect to go with dresses that have a hemline above the knee or of a mid thigh length.
Minis
Golden rule: The shorter the hemline or length, the lower the heel. A miniskirt worn with stilettos may end up looking tacky than trendy, but when paired with loafers, ballet flats or even white sneakers will look chic and polished. Similarly, gladiator sandals and ballerinas or kitten heels are also a good idea for above the knee length outfits.
A few footwear choosing tips
Finally, here are a few simple yet useful tips to keep in mind when trying to match your dress and footwear.
As a first move to ensure that you have got your complete outfit ready, is to get a full length mirror.
- Try to pick complementing colors to go with your outfit rather than total matching shades, since that would look quite odd, matching from head to toe. Similarly, you could try to match your footwear with a particular element of your dress like the color of the belt or bow, scarf etc.
- Always have a pair of comfortable shoe handy and ideally browns and blacks are good idea since they go well with almost everything.
- Always consider the season when choosing your footwear.
- Make sure you always choose the most comfortable fit when it comes to footwear. Buying a tight one, presuming it will stretch over the time, can most often prove to be a bad move.
