How to wear red shoes — the well-considered wardrobe

Let’s be honest, it takes guts to wear red shoes – they can be risky and confusing. Get it wrong and you can end up looking like Ronald McDonald. If you get it right however, it can elevate a look from everyday to showstopping. Red shoes are like a red lip. We love them on other people, but we never know how to master the look ourselves.

Do you go for a flat or a heel? Can you pull it off for work? Do you pair with more red? Do you keep the rest of your look simple? It is definitely a daring thing to try but in my own quest to figure out what looks best with red shoes, I’ve come up with a few hacks to guarantee red shoe success. Here are my findings with some shopping options to make the red shoe yours now.

NEUTRALS

When combined with any number of neutrals (tans, black, white, greys, and, of course, jeans), a red shoe not only pairs well, but it also gives your look a polished edge.

Colour block

This can take the form of a high saturation look (see ‘2019 Reset’ post) but it can also mean pairing a red shoe with say a full navy ensemble a la Victoria Beckham. In this way the red shoe can be a pop of colour in a monochromatic outfit or combined with a number of other colours for full tilt high saturation. Just a general note on the colour pop, be careful with multiple pops on your outfit (eg matching shoes, bag, scarf etc) it can look like you’ve spent way too much time working it all out.

Red with prints

There’s something magical about the right combination of a printed dress, skirt or shirt and red shoes. Extra points if your print has a hint of red already in it.

Full commitment

Attempting to match your shoes to the rest of our outfit can sometimes be a fail but when it comes to the colour red it seems to just work. This look works when you combine simple pieces in closely matched shades of red. See the looks below for head-to-toe red perfection.