RE: Matching shoes to an outfit

I received the following cry for help:
"Can you teach me how to match shoes to an outfit? I have no trouble "ankle-up" so to speak, but my shoes always clash horribly. My girlfriends have even commented "What are those atrocious things on your feet?" Very hurtful. Audrey, I need your help!"


Ok, so the first thing that is really important to grasp is things don't have to MATCH, they have to GO.  What that means is, just because you're wearing a blue shirt or have a blue purse doesn't mean you need to wear blue shoes.  Picking shoes to wear with an outfit requires the same thought process as picking out jewelry or scarves or other accessories.  The biggest thing I've stressed in previous posts is the importance of pairing "loud" items with "quiet" items.  So if you're wearing a pair of black pants for example, this is a really quiet item, and it's a neutral (neutrals are blacks, grays, whites, navy blues, beiges).  Therefore, you can add a pop of color or pattern in your shoes.  


But still be warned, if you have a lot going on in the rest of the outfit, such as a bold patterned shirt, you may want to stay away from really bold shoes.  Let me take you through an example:


The following Trina Turk dress and Marie Claire shoes DO NOT GO TOGETHER:

This probably seems really obvious, but it's important to take note of the thought process.  Why don't they go together?  Well clearly, both are very bold both in pattern and in color, so there's just way too much going on here.  Instead, try wearing this dress with other kinds of shoes, such as:

 A pair of simple black shoes will go with anything, so when in doubt, especially when wearing something bold, you can never go wrong with them.  That's not to say you can ONLY wear black or neutrals when the rest of the outfit is bold.  Here's another shoe possibility:

This is a great pair of indigo Stuart Weitzmans.  Note that it does not exactly MATCH the dress's color, yet it brings out the blue in the dress, so it goes quite well with the outfit. Plus, it's got nice detailing but is not a super crazy looking shoe that distracts from the dress.  Tip: when looking for a color to go with a bold pattern, look for subtle colors contained in the pattern that you can pull out and use elsewhere in the outfit.  However, a pop of color is always a great thing, so you don't even have to take a color from the dress above to have a great shoe:

These pink flats don't match a color in the dress, but are subtle enough and not too bright of a color such that they would still go well with the bright blue and turquoise in the dress.

As for the red shoes, they are very very loud shoes.  If you have a pair of shoes that bold, a simple black dress always goes:

The biggest tip I can give you beyond understanding these basic rules is to take a look at examples.  Look at magazines, or just go on Neiman Marcus or Nordstrom or any site that shows examples of outfits, even google images.  Try different things, ask people's opinions and you will learn.  Don't be afraid to put on an outfit and shoes and ask your friends what their opinions are.  Feel free to message me with a specific outfit/shoe combination or an outfit that you'd like help picking out shoes for.  I'm happy to help!  Good luck!