Footwear for Skinny Pants

CLOSET ANALYSIS: the best shoe to wear with skinny pants

NO THANKS     NICE     NOTE-WORTHY

When someone asks, "Can I wear chunky shoes with skinny pants?" My first thought is, "Don't, it defies a proportioned look." however, I might also respond by saying, "Of course you can wear chunky shoes with skinny pants. But it depends. Follow your heart and your sense of proportion." 

First, according to the stylists who write, the skinny pant should be cropped at the ankle. Taking that into consideration, my "analysis" makes sense for the "look" relative to my sense of proportion, which will be quite different than someone who is taller or heavier than me.

Leeloo Jeans. Photo Source: My Wardrobe

NO THANKS . . . to any shoe or boot that is thicker and heavier looking than your ankle. Essentially you end up looking like an exclamation mark if you have bulbous looking footwear. I am not fond of heavy chunky boots that end at the ankle for this very reason. Skinny pants need a slim ankle, and therefore, more delicate looking shoes. That's why runners are also a NO THANKS. Even though the look in the photo from "My Wardrobe" is not really chunky, I'm not that fond of it. Take a look at this YouTube video for a summary of what heels to wear with skinny pants.

Photo by JoyD. Skinny pants & boots
on a Paris street, October, 2012

WINTER NOTE-WORTHY: As soon as I wrote the bit about short boots, I remembered a photo I took while in Paris at the end of October, 2012. My NO THANKS just became WINTER NOTE-WORTHY. Even though I prefer knee high boots generally; these short boots look great on this woman somewhere in Paris.

  Victoria Beckham in heels with skinny pants. Photo Source PR Photos. Com
Retrieved from Fashion Police.com on April 14, 2013

NICE: There are two styles of footwear that I consider the NICEST with skinny pants. A more delicate high-heeled shoe, strappy sandals, a pump or stiletto are all better than a chunky high heel. 

For flats the NICE here is a ballet flat. In winter, I like flat or heeled knee-high boots. I prefer the Hudson Leeloo skinny jeans with the side stripe, or any other skinny pants, with the pump rather than the ankle boot. Being short, my Leeloo's do not end so high. Mine come right down to the ankle. Therefore if I want to follow the trend, I have to fold them up to sit just at the ankle. I have these pants and my absolute favourite way to wear them is with flat boots.

Ballet flats in same tone as skinny pants. Photo by JoyD.

NOTE-WORTHY: If you're short like me, 5' 3", then a shoe that is the same colour or tone as the skinny pants is the way to go. The photo illustrates an unintentional match. I bought the ballet flats in Romans, France in the summer of 2012, the Lancel bag in Paris in the fall of 2011 and the skinny Theory pants in Edmonton, Canada in February, 2013 with no thought of one or the other in my mind when I was buying. If you are tall, you have the luxury to wear a contrasting or complementary colour. The same tone helps us short ones to create the illusion of length in our legs.

Photo Source: Glamchek.com

SUMMER NOTE-WORTHY: For me, I try to avoid straps at the ankle; it's that height thing again and my attempt at achieving a longer look through the leg but this Glamcheck photo of "ankle straps" appealed to me.