Every time I take a stroll in our small city, I can quickly spot women who feel the need to match the color of their bag and shoes. Nothing´s wrong with it, in fact it´s the safest way to do it. But that´s the thing, it´s too safe. The irony of staying at the safe side is, you may come off as trying too hard. Sometimes you also want to border your style to the gutsy, more adventurous side. And if I´m not mistaken, this topic is the least talked about. So in this post, we´ll discover the many ways to be creative in mixing and matching your shoes and bag.
When to match your shoes and bag
1. If a lot is happening in your outfit. Rocking a bright neon lace dress cinched at the waist with a power red slim belt? Polishing the look with matching clutch and shoes is a good idea because it gives balance to the overall result. Plus you don´t want to put in contrasting statements at the same time.
2. If you need to pull everything together. Wearing separates of different colors and prints? Lots of layering? Completing the look with matching shoes and bags will tone down the confusion and put everything at the right perspective. But be careful, you want the colors of your accessories to complement, if not match, the colors of your clothes.
3. If your dress has busy print. Obviously, if your dress has a loud, busy print, you need to tone it down. You have two options in accomplishing this – you either pick a color from your print to be the color of your accessories, or you opt for neutral colors such as nude or black.
When neutrals turn bold
4. Bag and skirt + shoes and top. Going for a tonal look is great for your vertical line. One trick to try is matching your bag with the skirt and your shoes with the top. Both colors belong to the same family.
5. Black and animal print. It´s tempting to grab the black and black. I know because I usually settle for this. But if you want to make your matching more fun, try a black clutch and and black/neutral animal print pump. The outcome is more delicious!
6. A dose of fierce. This is the most effective way to turn neutrals into bold statements. A brown dress coupled with brown gladiator tall boots and matched with a monogram is simply fierce. A black and white rider look tempered with matching blush acessories gives a good dose of masculine and feminine vibe.
For daring creatives
At first glance you´d think that a lot is going on in these looks. But the thing is, they work. Why? Let´s find out. From the left:
7. The top is black, the skirt is fuchsia. We know that pink and black looks great together, right? Now, the clutch and shoes are a match because both prints have dark shades.
8. Black striped tee and black floral skirt are both considered neutrals. The wearer added a matching red clutch and red moto jacket to break the monochromes. Adding yet one more color (subdued blue) through her shoes didn´t hurt at all.
9. Family bond. In this look, the top, clutch and skirt are all from the same family of colors. Her gold pumps clashed nicely with mint. Her black jacket pulled everything together.
10. Those loud red peep-toe boots match the print. The green clutch match the print. The navy blue top complements her light green printed skirt. It may seem like anything and everything was simply thrown together but with a close look, it´s clear that careful thoughts were actually invested on this look.
Now over to you girls, how do you match your shoes and bags while still keeping things effortless?
