One of the keys to putting together a truly effortless wardrobe is to assemble the minimum necessary clothes and accessories, so that getting dressed is a nearly foolproof exercise.Once you’ve made it through the most difficult step – deciding what your basic neutral is going to be – you just gradually stock up on basics and move forward…
The most important accessory?
Neutral Shoes
You’ve got to have shoes. Not a ton of them, and not with insane stupid heels, but a few good timeless styles that can take you almost anywhere.
For my world, I narrowed down all of the world’s available footwear to six pairs: a pair of flats, a pair of pumps, some loafers, a pair of sandals, some ankle boots and some flat dress boots. As with all advice, your mileage may vary…
Ballet flats – Vaneli, pumps – Bella Vita, loafers – Stuart Weitzman, sandals – Dorothy Perkins, ankle boots – Joie, riding boots – Geox
Ankle boots – Rag and Bone, pumps – Fabio Rusconi, ballet flats – Merona, loafers – Born, sandals – Ralph Lauren, boots – Franco Sarto
Boots – Le Crown, ankle boots – MOMA, slingbacks – Santoni, sandals – Paul Green, loafers – Amalfi, ballet flats – Frye
Loafers – Cole Haan, pumps – Ferragamo, sandals – Charles & Keith, ballet flats – Chloe, ankle boots – Rag and Bone, riding boots – Frye
Flat – Suziemas, sandals – Sam Edelman, ankle boots – Officine Creative, loafers – Manolo Blahnik, pumps – Martin Clay, riding boots – Frye
love,
Janice
Looking Back
2012 – Many of my readers ask me – among all of the accessory brands in the world, Why Hermes? This video explains a little bit about why…
2013 – You can always tell when the weather begins to warm up here in Chicago – we suddenly have Chic sightings: Mixing bright colors, with metallic shoes.
One of my goals in the off season is to find some great leather ankle boots! Loved your selections!
Wow! Frye has some really nice styles, in really nice colors. Flat riding-style boots is all I wear these days. I haven't embraced the ankle boot, and probably won't at this point, but I do wear "feminized" combat-style boots under pants pretty much all fall and winter, so I suppose those count.
Love your "looking back" posts, by the way!
I have always been in the camp of well made but unobtrusive shoes. To my eye most women look strange calling attention to their feet. You have come up with some beautiful examples that are immensely wearable.
Oh I love love shoes…you've got some great styles here today!
I wear denim all the time. Never thought about getting matching blue shoes as a basic. Always thought I had to coordinate it with whatever too I was wearing. Interesting.
Thank you for the post on shoes-something I struggle with. It is a great selection.
Irene
Ooh shooz! I love shooz! I particularly love the dark blue ones you show here. I don't think I wear loafers, but the rest of them look great. What are loafers for that is different to the ballet flat type shoe?
Thanks for sharing this types of shoes! Click here.