A question for the house

[ksmith]

Mostly for the female half of the workforce. Guys wear black shoes. Black shoes make sense to me. I *like* black shoes. But I commit fashion faux pas on a daily basis. This is why I create polls and throw the question open to the house.


[Poll #859280]

Comments

[juliabk.livejournal.com]

Whenever I see someone all in navy blue, I expect to see someone to salute.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Depends on the shirt, and how you wear the suit. All buttoned up with a white shirt--yeah, hoist the flag. But a more colorful shirt or some clunky jewelry damps down the salute factor.

[juliabk.livejournal.com]

Still, it could be fun if you've got any ex-Navy folks in the office.:-)

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Need gold braid. Loops and loops of it.

[juliabk.livejournal.com]

You laugh. I've *seen* a woman's suit very similar to that. It was... disturbing.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Heh. I once bought a cherry red jacket with banded cuffs and stuff on the shoulders that almost but not quite resembled shoulder boards. My dad said I looked like a movie usher, and I never wore the damned thing again.

[torrilin.livejournal.com]

Black shoes work, but be careful of the shades :). If the navy is one of the almost black ones, black shoes can look a little weird. In a lot of lights it may end up looking like your black shoes don't match your black suit. If it's a lighter navy, black is fine.

[juliabk.livejournal.com]

Good point. But then, I've never quite seen the point of navy that dark. Just go for black then. Maybe because I'm a winter.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

This is a good navy, dark but not unto black.

I just hate trying to match navy shoes. Then you're stuck with a pair of shoes that you can only wear with one thing.

[juliabk.livejournal.com]

Go for the black. You can pull it off. Trust me on this. *EVERYTHING* looks good on you.

Bitch.

And I mean that in the nicest possible way.

(Now, I need to find the outfit for tomorrow that makes me at least look like a neat and clean sack of potatoes.)

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

:-P

Certain shades of brown and camel look really, *really* bad on me. Bad. As in 70s shag carpeting bad.

I *have* a black suit. But I want to have the full range of corporate coloration--black, navy blue, charcoal grey, and taupe. I still need the taupe.

Sierra Trading Post is offering some great deals on women's suits lately. The navy suit came from them, a Jones New York at a very nice discount.

I hate paying retail...

[juliabk.livejournal.com]

Ok. I'll buy that. With your coloring brown would work for cammo and that's about it.

"And here we have the female corporate geek in her natural habitat. Note the wide range of coloration available to her. She is able to quickly show the color most advantageous to her continued survival in a highly competitive ecosystem..."

[just-shai.livejournal.com]

All I remember from that class that told us how to dress for getting employment outside of the Army is that your shoes and belt should match.

No, I don't know why.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I always heard that all the leather--shoes/belt/bag--should match.

I like pieces that are a mix of black and brown leather. Most everything matches then.

[stevenagy.livejournal.com]

Women: navy blue.
Men: shoe color should match belt color; socks should match trouser color

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

That's the rule I learned as well, but shoes/belt/bag that go with one suit and one suit only are such a damned waste. Especially if you go for relatively decent quality, which kicks you up into the $$ before you know it.

I've actually been following Men's Rules for years now. They're so much simpler.

[merlinpole.livejournal.com]

I'm having cognitive dissonance--wear a suit to work? "Are you going to a funeral or a job interview?" applies, and the second's gotten less applicable, when the people one's being interviewed by are wearing clothing that at maximum level of formality is shirt and pants (ranging down to jeans and t-shirt, and where I was working five years ago, some of the jeans mutated into shorts due to the holes having got large enough to truncate the jeans).

[juliabk.livejournal.com]

Hostess has a muuuuch more formal job than some of us.:-) I'd get that same response if I wore a suit to work. Still, I have my dressier 'meeting' outfits when I have to crawl out of my hole and go make nice with higher ups in other departments. On flood warning days, though, man, t-shirt, jeans and those soft plastic clogy things with the holes in them. Same outfit for 'crawling around on the floor' days (don't ask - doesn't happen very often any more due to the current round of complaints from the hip joints) and such.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I sometimes nudge the envelope when it comes to office-wear. Ideally, my most casual clothes should consist of classic "office casual"--nice khakis, nice shirts or sweaters, leather shoes. However, I and most of my co-workers are located near labs and manufacturing sites. We regard office casual as the usual thing, with occasional forays into dressy. We wear jeans on occasion, but with the nice shirt/belt/shoes. The few times I've worn running shoes, I have gotten the odd look. One co-worker once made a crack about my embroidered denim shirt--she said I looked like I was going out for a "Sunday walk."

(I didn't say that my Sunday walk-wear consisted of rock-climbing pants and hoodies because I am oversocialized and will likely never learn to bite back).

Today, I am wearing said denim shirt, tucked into taupe cords. Leather vest. Belt and shoes match--brown leather. No socks--knee-hi hose. I consider that this is as casual as I can safely go.

[thecurlyboy.livejournal.com]

I think black shoes and belt looks fine on a woman in a navy blue suit. Heck, brown shoes might work just as well (it can for men, anyways).

Does it really matter if you have shoes that only go with one outfit? You've already bought the suit, ostensibly to look good. You're worried about *not* looking good by having the "wrong" shoes. Does it make sense to turn your $300 suit into something that you're uncomfortable wearing because you didn't spend the $50 on matching shoes?

Obviously, I'm just making up numbers here, but you're looking at wearing that suit maybe, what, 20 times in the next year? With the right shoes, it might cost you ($350/20 = $17.50) roughly $18 a use. If you don't buy the right shoes, so it makes you uncomfortable to wear the suit and only wear the suit 5 times in the next year, you're looking at ($300/5 = $60)$60 a use.

*shrug*

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

The discomfort's relative. If I get the sense I'm ok--and the 13-1 'black shoes are fine' voting makes me think I'm ok, then there's no issue. If I found the rule still held, then I'd likely spend the money.

[thecurlyboy.livejournal.com]

Gotcha.

[juliabk.livejournal.com]

I *hate* buying shoes. The result is that I have... ummm... four pairs of shoes.

black heels
black flats (tie - a Rockportish style, but they're from New Balance to properly fit my weird wide high instep feet ;-)
tan flats (same shoe as above)
the soft plasticy clogy things with holes. ;-)

Oh! Five pairs. I forgot the flipflops. ;-) I need a new pair of sneakers.

I've been told I need a pair of 'comfy, sexy shoes' but I can think of nothing less sexy than shoes, so who knows?