Should You Wear Mismatched Shoes? All Signs Point to Yes
As any woman knows, the act of choosing what shoes go with an outfit can be a monumental task—especially before coffee. Last week, I was mostly dressed in a vintage denim shirt and Sacai skirt, trying to decide which pair of creepers went with my ensemble: black or leopard pony hair. With one shoe on each foot, I posted a picture to my Instagram Stories with a poll. I ultimately wore the leopard—they won 74 percent of the votes—but throughout the day, I continued to receive least a dozen DMs from friends advocating for one of each. Before you close this article thinking Crazy!, hear me out.
It was no less than Chitose Abe, the designer of Sacai, who outfitted her models with mismatched zebra and leopard shoes on the Fall 2018 runway. A year before, Phoebe Philo, the patron saint of arty aesthetics, had shown a rose-colored dress worn with one white and one red boot at Celine.
Way, way, way back in 2011 Helena Bonham-Carter showed up wearing one green and one pink shoe at the Golden Globes. At the time, the actress told the press, “Why not wear mismatching shoes? Who says we can’t? I was just having fun. For me, fashion is all about fantasy and putting unlikely things together. That’s what I love. I genuinely love dressing up.”
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I’m not proud to say that I, personally, have not yet stepped out of the house in uncoordinated footwear, but my colleague, Vogue market editor Anny Choi, chose two The Row loafers today, one in black and one in ivory. “At first, I felt really awkward leaving my apartment,” she says. “My neighbor and I were waiting for the elevator together and she looked down at my shoes and said, ‘Oh, how fun!’ I felt a little self-conscious, but then, as I walked to the subway, I remembered that no one really looks at your feet. And also, who cares!” As Choi entered our office, a chorus of editors swarmed around her to discuss her footwear choice. Needless to say, you can expect other Vogue staffers to be striding around in mismatched shoes soon.
Granted, our office is a little more open to fashion risks than most. For everyday wear, Choi recommends mismatching classic shoes as a way to heighten your everyday basics. “I think it’s a fun way to elevate a simple outfit, like all-black or jeans with a white shirt. Plus, a lot of people already own two pairs of shoes they love, like Converse or Dr. Martens. If they define your personality, why not mix and match?”
With that ethos in mind, here are eight pairs of shoes worth doubling up on.
