Here’s an easy guideline for sandal wearers who fancy the idea of keeping their sandal collection tight, minimal and versatile. The heel height, heel style, sandal style, and colours are to your taste, although I’ll make a few suggestions along the way.
You’ll essentially need three types of sandal, with the fourth pair duplicating the type that you’ll wear most frequently.
- Casual Sandals: Wear these with casual skirts, dresses, shorts, cropped pants, clamdiggers and jeans. Metallic flat sandals are a great casual addition. Nude-for-you wedges are versatile and leg lengthening for bare legs. Espadrilles, cork heels, and wooden heels are ideal. Suede gladiators fit the bill, as do flat thong sandals with heel coverage.
- Dressy Sandals: I don’t mean “cocktail dressy”, but they have to be a step up from casual sandals. You can wear them to the office, a day wedding, the theatre, date night or a fancy restaurant. They could be black cage heels, silver wedged sling backs, bronze T-straps with stacked heels, or strappy patent stilettos. Self colour and self fabric heels tend to look dressier.
- Extra Fun Sandals: These sandals might be a little more edgy, fashion forward, avant-garde or retro than your usual sandal style. Perhaps they’re patterned or colour blocked. Or neon. Or studded and ankle strapped. Or high heeled and platformed. Or they’re peep toe sandal booties. Whatever feels more daring and perhaps, at first, a little out of your comfort zone.
- The Duplication: Establish which type of sandals you’ll wear the most frequently and purchase another pair that fits into that category. Add in a pair of casual sandals if your days are filled with casual activities. Add a pair of dressy sandals if it’s an office requirement. Or throw is another pair of sandals that scream extremely happy fun feet each time you stare down at them.
By all means purchase many more pairs of sandals if you love wearing them and your Summers are long and hot. These guidelines are for those who are wardrobe minimalists, have short hot Summers, or are on a tight budget.
I don’t like to wear sandals, plus our Summers in Seattle are short and seldom all that hot. And I prefer to wear closed Summer shoes and pumps for dressy occasions. This means that I have no need for sandals at all.
