I previously talked about pairing black ankle pants with black ankle straps for Spring and Summer. Going into Autumn or a mild Winter, pairing black ankle pants with black booties is the seasonal update of this look. Feel free to wear heeled or flat booties in casual or dressy renditions. Pointy toe, round toe, almond toe and peep-toe styles are all good.
From what I see coming down the runway at fashion week, there is no stopping ankle length pants, still one of the biggest trends in bottoms. Ankle pant silhouettes vary from skinnies, straight legs and more relaxed styles with tapered hems, to shapes with wide hem widths like culottes.
Ankle pants can be visually leg shortening, and are therefore not a conventionally flattering look. But wearing booties in the same colour as the ankle pants lengthens the leg line and offsets this effect. Of course, the combination is not as elongating as wearing regular length black bottoms with black booties because of the horizontal lines that are created at the hem of the pants and the top of the bootie. But the self-colour bootie does help to draw the eye up and down, thereby creating more of a vertical line.
The narrower the hem width of the pants and the ankle opening of the booties, the more leg lengthening the effect. Wider hem widths and bootie openings tend to create a slightly stronger horizontal line on the ankle or lower leg.
Furthermore, a smaller gap between the hem of the pants and the top of the booties creates a visually longer line.
Wearing a black ankle boot with a taller shaft is one way to create a smaller gap between the pants and the booties. A larger gap that reveals more skin tone is dramatic, but slightly less conventionally flattering.
Wearing invisible short ankle socks, footies, or nude for you knee-highs is what I usually suggest for foot covering. Personally, I’m comfortable without socks if it’s an extra comfy pair of booties and the weather is mild. You could also wear black socks and scrunch them down over the booties for a maximal, textural and deliberately RATE (rough around the edges) effect.
