Hi everyone, it’s Emily.  So…I think I’m a little dense.  Our reader Natalie sent us the links to these great dresses with this email, and I thought that the questions about shoes were related to the dresses.  I don’t think they are, but here’s my response anyway.  Seriously, how great is that purple dress!

Just found these dresses from The Limited……
I am addicted to your blog! You guys do a great job!
I have question for you, I have the hardest time putting shoes together with outfits.  I LOVE how some people will wear a pair of shoes for a pop of color.  Are there any rules to what goes with what.  I was taught way back in the day that your shoes should match the color of your skirt or pants for example navy skirt=navy shoes, black pants=black shoes.  I try to venture out  I really do but do you have some ideas on that. I want to get away from the matchy matchy shoe/pant combo desperately but need some direction in that area. Can you please help??? Thanks for all you do on your blog. I love it!
Natalie
Elk Grove, CA

Hi Natalie!  I love the dressed you have found.  Especially the purple one, I’ve never been into purple, but lately I love it.  I can’t get enough of a nice eggplant purple these days for some reason.  I love when people use shoes for a pop of color in their outfits.  I think it can turn an average outfit into something special.  With these dresses, however, I took a different approach.  The colors of the dresses are beautiful, saturated colors…and both are solid colors.  I think a bright shoe might look sort of Dr. Seuss-ish.  One day I wore a pair of watermelon colored corduroys with a yellow top and my husband very sweetly commented that it looked a little like Dr. Seuss.  And I think he was right.  No, he was definitely right.  I think that pops of color are the most effective – and successful – when the rest of the outfit is subdued and/or neutral.  So for these outfits I wanted to highlight the gorgeous colors of the dresses.

Fall is perfect for tights, and I’m a huge tights fan.  For the red dress, the tights are a light sweaterknit, and would be so cute with these inexpensive boots from Old Navy.  The dress comes with a belt, but to break things up a little I put a brown belt in there.  (Of course with a dress like this you could throw on a pair of black heels and run out the door, but this look is just another option.)  A pretty scarf to throw around your shoulders and a fun cuff bracelet top things off.

For the purple dress, I found some gray tights to match these great gray booties.  Now, if I had seen these on their own, I would have told you that they are pretty ugly shoes, but seeing them styled with gray tights creating a monochromatic look…I think they are killer (look from the Anthropologie catalog).  I’m really into that look for fall.  Tights and booties in a matching color, so cute.  And believe me, I don’t  like booties, so this is a big deal to me.  A fun necklace and a bright belt top things off.  Because this dress has a pretty satiny sheen to it, I wanted to keep everything else un-fancy.  I like that the tights and boots are a matte gray, and the necklace is kind of crafty/folky.  A satiny dress like this could easily be played up with black or silver heels and some sparkly jewelry.  But save that look for a wedding or something.  This is more fun.

Related posts:

1. We Love Colors Giveaway!
2. Christmas Party Emergency!
3. Holiday dress…

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 20th, 2009 at 10:30 am and is filed under Dresses, Outfit. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.