I’ve recently embarked on a journey to explore flat shoes. While this may sound ridiculous, it has been years since I would consider wearing flats for a couple reasons, including caring about what I *thought* men cared about and also, being short with big calves. BOGUS.
Turns out, it was my wonderful boyfriend who encouraged me to wear shoes of all heights. He reminded me that it’s confidence that adds (metaphorical) inches, style and sexiness – not high heels (though I do love my high heels, and always will).
When I lived in New York, I was under the impression that men would only speak to me and look my way if I had straight hair, high heels and was super-hot at all times. While I always dress to the nines for myself, I’d added an extra level of pressure to how I dress each day in order to make myself attractive to the opposite sex. I’m not proud of it, but I also won’t lie about the impact that living in an image-obsessed city has on one’s self-perception and the level to which she cares about what others think. But no more! I only care about what *I* think now.
I knew that my first real venture into flats territory had to be FABULOUS so that I would feel both confident and excited about wearing them. Et Voila! I saw these amazing puppies at DSW (Michael Kors) on the clearance rack, and I snatched them up. Shiny with silver accents and hardware – yes, please! Plus, I love this taupe color. It’s one of my favorites in footwear.
The silver hardware on the shoes made me immediately think of this jacket with sparkly silver epaulets – I got it at H&M last year, and it’s actually very well made.
It was a cold day when I wore this outfit, so this cape (purchased at Crossroads Trading Co.) added a layer of warmth without straining the stitching on the beaded shoulders.
I’ve worn these one other time with another skirt outfit. My thinking was that if I’m going to wear sneakers, I’m also going to wear a skirt with them to add femininity into the equation and to increase my comfort level with wearing flats.
I wore the above outfit to brunch, and the below outfit on an adventure to see the Bowie Is exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art here in Chicago. I thought Bowie deserved as much sparkle as I could reasonably bring on a Saturday morning.
WHY I WORE IT:
- I chose all black to wear because I wanted to call attention to the shoes and their accents – I thought that you might look at the epaulets first and then wonder why I’d wear something so fancy on a Saturday. You’d then look to my feet and see that the sneakers balanced the fanciness by both matching the silver and also bringing the outfit down to a casual level.
- As I mentioned above, the metallic hardware on the jacket was intended to call on the silver hardware in the shoes, as well as in the handbag. And the same for the leather of the skirt.
- The brown of the cape called upon the brownish taupe color of the shoes, as well, so that when I had it on and you couldn’t see the blazer, there would still be a method to my style madness.
As for the big calves – I’ve just got to accept them – they are part of my body and always will be. And while I think they look best in high heels that add length, I can also start to appreciate the way they look in flats. After all, these legs get me where I need to go, and for that, I am grateful – regardless of the shoes.
