I love beautiful shoes.
There are still some hard and fast rules, especially if you are interviewing. If you want to get your foot in the door, keep it classic, stylish, and conservative. The office may run the gamut from flip-flops and tennis shoes to open-toed sandals, but the interview is not the time to put your most fashionable foot forward. Save that for later.
Once you are in the office, you still want to adhere to the general guidelines of what is acceptable. However, like the evolution of hosiery, covered in an earlier issue, shoes have evolved. If your office has a dress code, ask for something in writing. If you are ever called into question, you can refer to the explicit guidelines.
Look For
A Statement
Shoes, even men’s shoes, have become a statement piece, not unlike accessories. As long as you keep them in the general scheme of your ensemble, shoes can make a beautiful finishing touch to any outfit. It can reflect your taste, style, and personality. When putting your ensemble together, pay attention to the shoes. It’s all in the details!
Classics
Classic is timeless. That said, you will want to comprise the majority of your wardrobe from a wide array of classic pieces. Trendy can be fun and, on occasion, give your outfit a bit of pop and personality. Not a bad thing, as long as it doesn’t take away from the rest of your look, but instead, enhances it. When all somebody notices is the shoes, you’ve missed your objective.
Quality & Maintenance
An item is an investment when it’s well-made and maintained, resulting in many years of enjoyment. Needless to say, shoe styles change all the time and you may not be able to get a favorite pair of shoes again the next year, or several years down the road, to replace them. To extend the life of my shoes, I get my shoes re-heeled; some more often than others. Cobblers are harder and harder to find these days because we find ourselves in a very “throw away” society. It can mean spending around $10 to $15 to get the bottom of the heel replaced, compared to $50 to $100+ to replace a favorite pair of shoes. That’s a deal.
Suggestions
Maintenance
When the heel is worn down enough to where you are walking on the metal spike, STOP wearing them until you can take them to a shoe repair shop. It only takes a day or two to get your shoes back. It is worth the wait and keeps your shoes from the trash. NOTE: you can’t get just one heel fixed, the price is for the pair.
Sales
I always get my shoes on sale. Department stores have pressure to keep abreast of new collections arriving and clearance sales are the result. Yay!
Hazards
Shoes sustain our weight gains and losses, the beatings of constant wear on concrete, grates in a walkway, slats of a boardwalk, the uneven levels of cobblestone, and the elements of the weather. Shoes, literally, have no protection. Wear trainers (sneakers, tennis shoes) on your way to work and change when you get to the office. The office floors are much kinder. It will save your shoes and feet serious hardship.
Don’t Be One of Those
Some shoes don’t belong in an office: flip-flops, tennis shoes, sandals, and sky-high platforms. These shoes belong in the garden, gym shower, and the nightclub. I’m not saying that your office has a problem with whatever shoes you choose to wear, but it is my hope that the Office Chic series inspires you to create an image of professional style and elegance.
Change It Up
Have a couple pairs of shoes to wear throughout the week. Give your shoes some time to breathe and refresh.
Take pictures of yourself in a complete ensemble that you wear to the office with each pair of your shoes. You really don’t get the full idea of how they look till you see them in a picture. Kind of like our weight. We don’t realize how we look outside of ourselves till we see a picture. Also, you might be surprised to discover what shoes don’t work and what shoes turn out to be quite fabulous with an outfit until you see it in a photograph (like red shoes with a black skirt – especially with the holidays around the corner).
Wear shoes you love and get rid of the ones you don’t. They just take up space for your next great pair of shoes.
What are your thoughts on shoes in the office today? Have some fun and fill out the shoe poll. You should be able to see the poll results.
With love to all my Sparkle peeps!
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I forgot to mention the shoes are Carlos Santana collection, “Prestige.” Also, I own a pair in this color. Because of the neutral color, they go with a lot of the more neutral items in my wardrobe.