Q&A: Matching Shoes to Dress

Q: For a cocktail party in June, I plan to wear a Marc by Marc Jacobs dress. It's knee-length and ruffled, and has a mauve background with pink, fuschia, and pewter-blue flowers, with brown stems [and] a royal blue waist tie. The shoes paired with it at the store where I bought it were blue patent leather sandals with about a two-inch stiletto heel, a little high for my taste. What other color shoes would you suggest wearing with it? Do I have to look for blue shoes?

A: No, you don't have to look for blue shoes. The general rule is that a shoe is usually in the same color family as the outfit it is accompanying, but not necessarily an exact match. Often times, when you make an exact match, the result comes out too "matchy matchy." Not to mention the difficulty in finding the exact match in the first place.

There are a lot of colors represented in the dress, so you have a lot of leeway here. You might want to try some shade of pink--or even tan, to bring out the brown of the stems. Both colors would likely work with other items in your closet as well. Remember, however, that shoes in vivid colors attract attention--and consequently make your feet look bigger. For such shoes, I'd recommend sticking to barer styles that are easier to wear.

As for type of shoe, for the dress that you described, I'd recommend a kitten heel. A low, delicate heel is a lot easier to wear than the stilettos you described. Plus, I think the kitten heel is more versatile, as it works with both cocktail clothes and work attire.