In Which I Wonder About Fashion And Color

[brightlotusmoon]

One of the paralegals in my office said to me, "You have small feet, right? What size shoe do you wear?" When I told her I wear a six in general (five and a half without insoles, five without socks), she said, "Perfect! I have a pair of boots I think you'll like. I got them for my daughter but they're too small on her."
She brought me to her office, and pulled out a pair of Western-style fashion boots that had thick, chunky heels. I stared and said, "Are those supposed to be platform heels?"
She nodded and smiled, and said, "Here, they have a website."
"Oh, " I said, "Those are Ariat Fatbaby boots! I have a pair, but they don't have those heels."
"These are Fatbaby Hi-Rise," she said. "The heel is two inches."
I looked at the boots, and at the website, and said, "You know, I really like how the pale blue contrasts with the chocolate brown."
And so I took them.
I'm wearing them right now. The boots I had been wearing are now sitting under my desk. The Ariat boots fit like a dream. Oh, they are insanely comfortable.
http://www.ariat.com/products_detail.aspx?pcid=9&cid=2&scid=19&pid=721
http://www.zappos.com/n/p/p/7342739/c/112346.html
See? Blue. I have to wonder what my mother would say. She used to be a fashion illustrator. She once lamented over my wearing brown shoes with nothing to match, and another time practically forbade me from owning a brown handbag. I wonder what she'd think about baby blue suede?
*grin*

Honestly, I know next to nothing about how colors are supposed to coordinate in clothes. Why I cannot wear brown shoes without another brown item of clothing or accesory is beyond me. I love brown. Of course, I don't wear brown shoes with black pants because it looks weird, but most of my pants are varied shades of tan and khaki. Two are chocolate brown. Most of my tops are earthy colors, or dark blue or dark green or dark red. I don't wear belts. My shoes are either black, chocolate brown, or rusty brown (I call that cowboy brown).

It's all shoes, right? It's all clothes, right? Unless the colors are some ungodsly shade of neon mixed some ungodsly shade of pastel, is it really that awful? No, seriously. I want to know. Fashion people, help me out here.

Comments

[cwjennifer.livejournal.com]

OMG, those are so cute!!

Fashion is really subjective. There's what's "in fashion," and then there's what people do with it. I LOVE fashion, but you probably can't tell based on what I usually wear (slouchy and comfy).

I can't answer the question about brown shoes without knowing what kind of shoes and what you were wearing them with ;-)

[brightlotusmoon.livejournal.com]

Basically all my shoes are boots. Fashion boots. Side zips. Either ankle length or mid-calf length. The heels are wide, sometimes chunky, and are all between 2 and 2.5 inches. The only shoes that are not fashion boots are the Ariat boots and a couple of hiking boots made for winter weather.

Here are examples of the typical styles that I wear:
http://www.zappos.com/n/p/p/7192817/c/827.html
http://www.zappos.com/n/p/dp/8704693/c/56261.html

[cwjennifer.livejournal.com]

Those are cute! What do you wear them with?

[brightlotusmoon.livejournal.com]

Khaki pants, mostly.

[fire_my_spirit]

I do a good deal of color coordination in my clothing choices, but that's more because I have this instinctive something or other in my head that leads me to think some colors look better with others. And honestly, some part of me has always considered brown a sketchy subject. For instance, it'll take a lot to get me to pair it with black, and certain shades of brown I won't mix because they clash, and I think there's a huge difference in the way something will look with light brown shoes versus dark brown shoes.

As to wearing something brown without something brown to match -- well, I think when you wear any color accessory without something to match it looks just kind of stuck on, you know? I wouldn't wear black sandals with a purple and white dress, I'd wear white ones. I wouldn't wear white sandals with a green skirt and tan shirt; I'd wear brown ones. There's exceptions to every rule; but I think there ought to be something on your outfit that your accessories match or at least go with, otherwise -- be it shoes or earrings or whatever you wish -- it will look like you just pasted it onto yourself and like it isn't actually a part of your whole outfit.

...I think about these things too much, I suppose, but I am somewhat shallow and take the way people, including myself, present themselves very seriously. :P

[brightlotusmoon.livejournal.com]

*nods*
Okay, this all makes a lot of sense. I hear a lot about "complimentary colors" too.
Today I'm wearing khaki-colored pants with a navy blue shirt and a tan-colored hair-tye... and these new chocolate and blue boots. Do you think there are any problems there? I usually wear very earthy tones no matter what, either in tops or bottoms.

[fire_my_spirit]

I would be a bit suspicious of the boots, because it's dark blue vs. light blue and light brown vs. dark brown and the exact colors of your shoes are nowhere else in your outfit. But I see no reason why they won't go with, really -- they certainly won't clash, I don't think, unless the shades are too close. I think a lot of it comes down to personal preference -- for instance, I know there's nothing strange about wearing a red shirt with khaki pants, but you'd never see me in it myself, as the idea of wearing a red shirt with anything other than a black bottom just makes me feel funny. I might feel weird having chocolate shoes right next to khaki pants on myself, but so long as the shades are dissimilar enough, it's not like they'd actually look bad.

It really all depends on who's looking at it, I guess. XD I think if it was me, since those shoes are so unique, I would plan my outfit around the shoes! Add more light blue in somewhere to round it all out and such. I might try for a just barely off-white skirt, or maybe even white, with maybe a light blue shirt and a dark brown jacket, but I'm not sure what kinds of things you could do with pants. I don't wear them!

[brightlotusmoon.livejournal.com]

Thanks! This is great advice. I should actually find more items in light blue, since I love that color.

[ryotboi.livejournal.com]

i recently became acquainted with ariat shoes. they seem to be well made and confortable. yay for you! :D

[lily-cat.livejournal.com]

I find that in my line of work, shoes usually work better in contrast. For instance, a wearing a lot of neutral colours makes it ok for you to have shoes with a "pop" of brighter colour in them. It's also acceptable to mix various shades of the same colour because it ups the visual interest instead of wearing head to toe in the same shade.

When you pull together an outfit, you choose a colour to focus on and then enhance it. You can match your shoes to your bag (though not a necessity), your earrings, or even the colour of an embroidered embellishment.

A simple rule I always bear in mind when dressing my actresses is that matching your shoe colour with your hemline will make you look taller, while contrasting it to your hemline is a good idea for people who are already tall.

Personally, these would look great paired with a pair of jeans, a light blue or white cami and a textured blazer in a dark chocolate. I'm sure that isn't work appropriate, but failing that they would also look great with neutral coloured trousers and a white/ivory/light blue top.

It's kind of late/early so I hope this makes some sense...but they are great looking boots, have fun with them. :)

[brightlotusmoon.livejournal.com]

Wow, this is all great advice. I will definitely keep all this in mind. Thank you!
Most of my clothes are in neutral or earthy colors anyway, so I'm glad I can wear these.