Love this time of the year when you have to dress “in between” seasons.
It is so fun for fashion!
Coats are still here but in a lighter version, you can use thin layers, skip the sweaters…
Not ready to get rid of tights yet but eager to wear your open-toed shoes?
The is THE perfect moment to try this debated fashion combo which is the “tights in open-toe shoes”.
The question is no more “can we do it”? We can.
Alexa Chung proved being the jedi master of this style along with many other fashionistas and stylists.
The question I am answering today, my little padawans, will be how to do it and look great.
The don’t
Super summery shoes
By this I mean any shoes that do not look urban enough and have a bit of a countryside feeling.
The first thing you shall be careful about is the fabric.
Forget about rope soles and natural colored leather.
I’ll make an exception for the wooden clogs, which, I do not know why, manage to eventually look good with tights..
Tights with a noticeable seam
Your tights, if not opaque, may have a noticeable seam at the edge of the toes.
It does not look chic to see it.
Either you get seamless tights or you make sure the seam is not to be seen. You know, tuck it under your foot sole ^^
Flat open toed shoes
Honestly, even if you can manage an acceptable look with some very urban open-toed ballet flat, it’ll never look “wow” anyway.
And 99% of the other looks that match flat open-toed shoes and tights look ugly.
I luckily could not find many pictures to prove my point (saving my poor eyes), so you’ll have to trust me on this.
Of course, as always, I never say never. Maybe in the future some genius stylist will come with such a combo that will look stylish.
Note that the Bircks and tights pairing that we saw the years before IS NOT good looking (at least to my taste) even if some ladies got streetstyled for this.
Worn out shoes
Tights and open-toes evoke fashion fashion and refinement.
They do not work with worn-out shoes.
(To be honest, almost nothing works with worn-out shoes except if we are talking sneakers or kind of grunge looking shoes.)
Bonus: my little “gift” for you
I know you just love when I give proper examples of what do not do ^^
So here is a special treat, because she achieved to get all the four aforementioned don’ts in just one outfeet (no spelling mistake here, kind of proud of my neologism).
✓ super summery shoes: honestly these shoes are meant to be worn bare feet in the midst of summer. See how sad they look? Looks like they are screaming “free the toes from the tights oppression!”. And you do not want your shoes to start rebelling against you don’t you?
✓ tights with a noticeable seam: sure you spotted it.
✓ flat open-toed shoes: obviously.
✓ worn out shoes: obviously.
II. The do’s
Now, some eye-soothener.
A. Choose the proper tights
Opaque tights
Opaque tights are the easiest option to be stylish with this tricky mix.
To be sure not to make any mistake, go for the black opaque ones.
They’ll match any sophisticated pair of open-toed shoes: delicate jewel like sandals, chunky sandals and peep-toes pumps.
Giovanna Battaglia probably by The Sartorialist
If you are comfortable with colors and pattern mixes, you can find a more daring match.
Dries Van Noten spring 2016
Wool tights
With those, make sure the shoes are not too frilly.
I can picture sandals with chunky straps way better than delicate ones of peep-toes pumps.
Of course fashion editorial will do those kind of mix. You may have spotted some ladies who got street styled with nike socks along with jewel sandals. Real life vs fashion life. Good thing crazy fashion people exist, they are creative and often come out with great stuff to wear. Sometime they also, well, come up with crazy stuffs ^^
Prada
See-trough tights
Like sheer tights or fishnet tights.
First, as mentioned in the don’t, you shall not be able to see the toe seam.
Second, most times, the less toe you can spot the better it’ll work.
Pandora displays no more than two little toes with those sandals
Same here
B. Choose the proper open-toed shoes
Chunky sandals
They shall be urban.
By that I mean shoes you feel belong to the city and could not be worn in a field. And yes, even if you could not walk with them in the said field, cord platform shoes, feel like they could belong there.
They’ll look great with opaque black or colored tights, see-trough tights and eventually wool tights.
Vintage Tommy Ton circa 2007 (I estimated the time period according to the Balenciagas)
You could try the clogs with a wooden sole though. You may even try the wool tights combo. But it’s a fail, please do not complain if you are requested to gard sheeps ^^
Delicate sandals
I mean super sophisticated delicate sandals with thin straps.
They often look amazing with tights.
Choose opaque black or see-trough tights for them.
Zoom on Sparks album cover “the number one song in heaven“, 1979
Peep-toes
The peep toes are very urban pumps.
They do not display lots of toes so you can go for any type of tights except for the wool tight which would create a bulk.
Et voilà ! Ready to rock tights and open-toes shoes like a fashion queen?
- 02:06:00
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