Thursday, 15 March 2012

Shoes every woman must have: week 2


 Sandals
 
Now that summer is officially over, and we’re coming to the end of daylight savings, I thought I’d  write this week’s shoe post about sandals in an attempt to hang onto some element of warm weather. Strappy heels are fantastic for summer and will dress up basically any outfit. Throw them on with some colourful shorts and a top for an easy smart-casual look or pair them with a flowy dress for evening drinks .

The wooden-clog look is still going strong and these nude/tan Yves Saint Laurent numbers are beautiful. I can see them teaming perfectly with a brightly coloured dress (something in pink or royal blue would be amazing), a tan belt and beachy tote bag.

 




Flats are also amazing and there have been lots of gorgeous styles around this last season, especially in metallic like these beautiful Stella McCartneys. Perfect for summer they’re strappy and cute, the gold is great for the party season and they are versatile enough to be taken from lunch and shopping with the girls to a beach party or cocktails.


I particularly love this style from River Island (you can buy them here) and would even wear these with jeans on those rare warmer days in autumn and spring (gotta love that unpredictable Melbourne weather!). 


 
You really can’t go wrong with sandals – they’re really easy to wear and are a great alternative to heels in summer. One thing I will mention is that there’s a big difference between a peep-toe shoe and an open-toe shoe. For example, it’s fine to wear stockings with peep-toe styles but they don’t look so great with an open-toe, mainly because you can see too much stocking and are dangerously close to hitting socks-and-sandals territory. That said, stockings with peep-toe shoes that are any colour other than black can look clumsy, so if you’ve got red peep-toes and really want to wear nude stockings with them I'd suggest seeking out some open toe stockings.

Another tip is to buy leather wherever possible. Leather is a wonderful material that not only moulds to your foot shape over time but also breathes, so your feet won’t get too hot and sweaty in the summer heat.

Have you purchased any sumptuous sandals this year? Feel free to post some pics for the rest of us to pine over!

3 comments:

  1. Oooh, those Yves Saint Laurent ones are very pretty. Not in the budget though, methinks.

    What is the difference between peep-toe and open-toe? Where does the line get drawn?

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    1. I'm glad you asked!
      I'd consider the YSL sandals to be open-toed because basically they're open enough at the front that all your toes can see the light of day, whereas the River Island ones are peep-toe as only your big toe and the tips of some others would be visible.
      I wouldn't recommend wearing stockings with the yellow sandals above though, given they've got cut-outs, a peep-toe and are sling-back. I guess there are exceptions to every rule!
      I'm not sure where the line would be drawn but generally sandals are open-toed and there's not a lot of grey area between the two: if there's a small opening then they're peep-toe and if it's bigger, they're open.

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    2. Ahh, the mystery is solved!

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