How to create a capsule winter shoe-robe
(plus what shoes to wear with what winter jeans/pants/skirts/dresses)
Investing in new shoes each season is an easy way to update your existing wardrobe.
I find this is especially so in the winter months when we tend to wear the same kind of key pieces - outfits built around jeans and pants with maybe maxi/midi skirts and dresses thrown in if we’re feeling fancy (and it’s not freezing).
As an ambassador for Australian footwear brand, FRANKIE4, I’m spoilt for choice in the shoe department but I’m often asked how to narrow down what shoes to buy each season. This week I was invited in store to share those tips at a VIP in-store experience at Brisbane’s Windsor store.
{If you came along, it was so lovely to meet you!}
These were the hot favourite shoes on the night - the Riley sneaker
Because sharing is caring (scroll on for my cheeky discount code), I’m including those tips here.
Consider your day-to-day life. This is crucial when creating your entire wardrobe but even more so when it comes to shoes because you’ve got to have shoes on your feet that are up to the task. Are you commuting to an office? Work from home? Run around after small children all week? Think about what you do MOST of your week and work back from that when considering the types of shoes that will best suit your capsule.
How cold does it get where you give? What shoes I get away with wearing in Brisbane each winter (BR-inter) will vary greatly from anyone who lives where the temperatures drop and remain dropped until late spring.
Consider what types of winter clothes you wear the most. Generally winter dressing is less complicated and more about separates. What “bottoms” - pants, jeans, skirts - you wear the most will determine the best shape of shoes for your capsule. See below for more on best shoe shapes for particular clothing style.
Consider your style personality/personalities. Again, this is very much something to think about in regards to your entire wardrobe but essential to understand when choosing shoes that are quintessentially you. Are you a classic dresser? A little bohemian? Or a riot of creative colour?
Once you have a solid idea of the above, I suggest looking at three pairs of shoes as a starting capsule for your winter wardrobe update:
Dress flats (or a heel)
Boots
Sneakers
If you choose a shoe in each of these categories that suits your life, your location, the typical winter clothes you wear AND your style personality, you’ll always have just the right shoe to complete your outfit.
Here are some FRANKIE4 shoe-robe capsules I’m loving right now:
Top: London tan - Liberty ecru - Riley white/leopard
Middle: Grace black - Austen camel - Harper almond milk
Bottom: Ash almond - Lyric black - Maxwell leopard
What shoes to wear with different pants/skirts/dresses
If you know me, you know that I really don’t buy into so-called fashion rules. Most are REALLY outdated and very much dismiss the idea of dressing to please yourself, how you’re feeling on any certain day and how you want to present yourself to the world.
WEAR WHAT YOU LOVE has always been my motto.
And what I love may not be what you love and vice versa. AND THAT’S OK. I’ve also long said it would be a boring old world if we looked and dressed the same.
So, any advice I, or anyone talking style, gives should be framed within your own individual style.
When it comes to shoes and what shoe styles/shapes work best with what winter pants, skirts and dresses, below are tips I’ve learned and applied to my own style preferences. Most are about balancing out either body proportions and/or proportions in outfit pieces you may be combining.
Full length, wide-leg pants/pants: this length of pant is very much on trend, even dragging the floor leg length. It’s a tricky length for me. I like to either wear with a pointed toe heeled boot or pump or a pointed toe flat. The pointed toe helps to balance out the proportions of the pants and elongate the leg that is otherwise “shortened” by the floor length hem. Sneakers, yes, but more of a streamlined than a chunky style.
Cropped pants/jeans: this is a versatile pant leg and works well with most shoes styles. I like to wear this length pant with sneakers, loafers, mules, ankle boots that meet the hem of the pant and pointed toe flats (pointed toe again as I find that otherwise my legs appear shortened in the outfit). There are a lot of women wearing rounded toes with this type of pant and they look great. It’s just not for me.
Straight leg jeans: ankle boots (cuff the leg of to top of boot), loafers, mules, pointed toe dress flats, sneakers
Leggings: loafers, mules, ankle boots, knee-high boots, dress flats, sneakers
Maxi skirts and dresses: sneakers, ankle boots, knee-high boots, pointed toe flats (like a floor-length hemmed pant, I need this point for balancing proportions).
Midi skirts and dresses: sneakers, ankle boots (that reach hemline of skirt), knee-high boots
… confused? Don’t be. If you’re standing in front of the mirror and something doesn’t feel quite right, try changing your shoes and see if it makes a difference. For me, this usually does the trick.
If in doubt, just switch out to a pair of sneakers.
Honestly, it’s rare that something enters my wardrobe without me first checking whether it passes The Sneaker Test, the ultimate test of wardrobe versatility.
DISCOUNT CODE: NIKKI20_AW24
Save 20% site wide at FRANKIE4 until May 23 with code NIKKI20_AW24
I’m a proud ambassador for FRANKIE4. Thank you for supporting the brands I choose to work with.
