Colors to Choose for Summer Shoes
What color are your flip flops? Honestly, no matter your coloring or proportions, your flip flops probably don’t ruin your looks. That is, when worn poolside. But that isn’t the point of this post.
Fully functional athletic shoes are different. In my experience any kind of white runner or trainer, even worn with the shortest possible socks, looks distressingly unnatural on me when worn with shorts; and a color is worse! But then what on earth am I supposed to wear to play tennis? Or when I am required to wear “gym shoes”?
Of course, to add insult to injury, there are all these people walking around looking perfectly normal dressed like that! But here’s the difference: proportionately my legs are short. And, although recently I have taken a slight detour into dark brown accents, when wearing shorts or casual skirts flats that blend with my legs have always worked for me. Naturally, heels change everything.
(If you resemble these remarks, I recommend reading these posts where Imogen explains what you need to know in all the detail you could want: Body Proportions Explained - Long Body, Shorter Legs and How to Look Taller and Make Your Legs Look Longer.)
Consequently, in my wardrobe:
- my new Chacos work because the upper color blends with my skin.
- my lipstick colored flats have made the mental move from spring (which for me is long pants worn with full shoes, no socks) to summer, where they somehow don’t jump out and call attention to my feet and the low-cut vamp elongates the leg.
- I need a pair of shoes to play tennis in. But I really don’t play often, so I don’t want to spend alot of money. My hero’s grandma, a very stylish 85 year old, was wearing leg-colored keds the other day; do you think I could get away with them?
Now, enough about my problems. Is there anything you have been frustrated trying to wear?
What look(s) seem to work for many people but not for you? And what wonderful alternatives have you found?
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Fashion Lab: Sarah Palin’s Skirt Lengths
Mom wondered what we’d tell Sarah Palin about the length of her skirts. 
Did anyone watch the resignation speech? We couldn’t find a good picture; Mom, I think, thinks her skirt was much too short; I think, at minimum, her ensemble offended the golden mean proportion, looking boxy (as explained by Imogen at this link).
What would you like to tell Palin about the length of her skirts? Which of the four shown here do you like best?
I’ll leave my answer in the comment section.
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Shoes.com Saturday Sale - March 14th, 2009!
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And here’s my suggestion of what to buy, if you don’t already have something you need: another pair of serious, walking-around, “full shoes”, dressy flats. Full shoes because spring, in my experience, is the rainy season. Color? Blend with trousers if your legs, like mine, are on the short side; match hair if long-legged. And one more thing: I’m shopping down a half size, so they don’t slip and rub, causing blisters.
What kind of shoes are you in the market for this spring?
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Layering Tops of Various Lengths
Eternal Voyageur brings up a good, if messy, question:
I was wondering whether you’d do a post of layering length of jackets/cardigans over tops. I was thinking about how to combine short/regular/long cover-ups over short/regular/tunic length tops. This is tricky for me especially when I plan to leave the cover-up layer unbuttoned …
And Imogen was kind enough to answer it on her blog!
Myself, I am off to Macy’s today. You see, I forgot that I had an account with them and so when the mail came I threw the envelope in the drawer “to look at later”. :( But as long as I am there to pay my bill anyway, I plan to Shop Clearance at Macy’s. :)
Wish you could go with me (I’m a bit lonely today after having my best friend around for the long US holiday weekend)! If you could go with me, what would you be shopping for? Or would we just be mall-walking for exercise?
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Teen Style Tuesday: Boyfriend Cardigans
If your legs are long in relation to your body, this trend will be easy for you! For versatility, try a boyfriend cardigan worn open in a color that blends with your hair (or face). Click on any of the pictures for more info, pricing and other colors available.
Are you sporting this fall trend?
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Fashion Lab: Boxy Tops
Some time ago we were discussing the uniform typical of some of our moms:
elastic waist pants + boxy top + “earth shoes”
Hoping to address this topic delicately and helpfully, without being unnecessarily hurtful or judgmental, I would like to once again quote the illustrious (although I really should look that word up first) Imogen Lamport, from her article The Long and Short of It, which explains how to work with vertical body proportions (aka length-balancing):
Baggy or boxy clothes will make you look bigger (they do that to everyone) …
The proof (I used pictures of a plus-sized model because it’s just more illustrative):
Comments?
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A Monochromatic Outfit
When I first learned about the whole length-balancing thing, I was pretty confused. For one, I tried to measure everything to the inch, which is not at all necessary. Later I learned that there are a finite number of classic formulas, like a knee-length skirt or dress, and within an inch or two is close enough. If I happen to have more creative energy, I can do something more complicated.
My other error was thinking that all this color combining stuff meant that monochromatic outfits were not good. Not so! Monochromatic outfits are still a great way to look slim and put together. And with a dress or a suit, an all one color look, length-balancing isn’t really an issue. (Just for fun, I’m going to try illustrating this post with maternity clothes. Anybody want to announce they are expecting?)
Do:
- Wear shoes the color of your hair.
- Choose a flattering color.
- Choose a boring color. Or worse, one that blends with your skin tone. From a distance, you could end up looking naked!
- Wear a monochromatic look from shoulder to mid-thigh. It halves the body.
Thanks, eternalvoyageur, for suggesting the topic. And since I’m not so much an embellishment person, do any of you readers have favorite “accessorizing the monochromatic outfit” tips?
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Fashion Lab: Shorts Color and Apparent Leg Length
I was looking for something completely different when I was stopped in my tracks by what I saw in this first pair of compared pictures. Do you see what I see? Not that I like to wear this length of shorts, or navy …
What do you notice about apparent leg length as it relates to the color of the shorts? Any other comments?
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How a Blonde Can Wear All Black
Another “blast from the past”, re-run post.
We all know one: a blonde who insists she looks good in black, but she really looks like a “head sticking out of a choir robe”; metaphorically speaking, her all-black ensemble enters the room five minutes before she does.
Allegedly chic in every situation, at times many of us want to wear a black outfit. Here’s how to do it:
- Good: Wear jewelry/accessories that support your coloring. Pearls, ivory, or even pale wood, when worn near the face, will lighten the heavyness of the expanse of black. Choosing a neckline which balances the head will keep the focus on your face.
- Better: Frame the face with something, a scarf or collar, a teen could even use a hooded sweatshirt, that repeats the haircolor. Basically, this reverses the concept I proposed in my post Beauty is in the Eye.
- Best: Repeating the black near your face as an accent, wear a jacket or sweater in a color that supports your coloring. Use your hair, eye, or skin color, but make sure it is the same in value (lightness) as either your hair or skin. Length balancing is the key to dodging the frump factor: 50/50 is boring.
There’s one more trick, but I don’t really recommend it. You can always wear more makeup.
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Another Belt Fashion Lab: Width AND Placement
Updated. More of the same set of pictures. 
After seeing all these, I have two observations:
- I like the belt at the waist with the knee length looks and at the hip with the full length looks. Last week, with a long skirt, I played around with the positioning of the belt and ended up liking it at high hip. I suspect we’re looking at length-balancing here, rather than a silhouette issue.
- The belt needs to be in scale with the other details of the outfit. For example, look how much better the wide belt looks with the jeans and white top, but it seems to overwhelm the dress. With the dress, the skinny belt is better. Can anybody explain why I like the skinny belt with the skirt and top, but I prefer the wide belt with the black tank and leggings?
Many thanks to eternalvoyageur for coming up with the idea for this and sending in these great pictures. Without further ado: wide belt and skinny belt, tested worn at waist and hip. (My much less thorough test of the same idea).
With so many pictures to look at, I’m simply going to ask:
What conclusions do you draw from this experiment?
