Secrets for Finding the Best Shoes

Secrets for Finding the Best Shoes

Did you ever wonder how some people manage to find all the best shoes while your closet seems to be teeming with black pumps and cross-trainers? It doesn't take a lot of money or a stylist to have attention-getting footwear. In fact, armed with these tips, you'll find that you can have shoes you love, no matter how small your budget is.

Colors

You can have a wardrobe full of killer shoes without ever straying from basic black, but a littler color never hurt anyone. If you're not comfortable in bright shades, don't wear them. But just because you don't see yourself as a red stiletto type, doesn't mean you're condemned to a life in brown loafers. Assess your wardrobe, your lifestyle, and your personality, and look for shoes in colors that fit in well with all three. Much like painting a room, adding colorful shoes is one of the simplest ways to make over an outfit.

Prints

Print shoes are loads of fun, and can inject tons of personality into an outfit. Plaids, florals, paisleys and geometric shapes all add color and interest, while also making it easier to work out the rest of your outfit. For example, a pair of pumps that feature blue and purple make you all that more confident about pairing a purple belt with your blue dress.

But print shoes can also be a bit of a slippery slope. Unless you have a larger-than-life personality and the fashion sense to pull them off, you might want to steer clear of shoes that combine several prints, are too "zany," or in general, look as if they might have been someone's home ec project.

Accents

It's amazing what a simple buckle can do for a shoe. Especially if it's a really nice, big, round, shiny buckle -- you know, the kind that just looks really polished and nice.

Buckles, gems, brooches, buttons, bows ... all these little accents can really make a pair of shoes, but again, the key is moderation.

While certain occasions and outfits are perfectly suited to shoes that are overly embellished, for everyday wear it's best to keep your head.

Heels

It seems that a lot of women think that shoes fall into only two categories: stilettos and flats -- or in more extreme cases, stilettos and cross-trainers. But there's a wide, wonderful world of shoes out there that fall somewhere in between the two styles. And while I'll agree that most stilettos are not comfortable, I've worn my share of flats that aren't either.