Wearing the right footwear is important. Comfortable footwear makes you happy, and great looking shoes can make your look. Many of my friends and clients have high-maintenance feet, and I do too. Here’s a summary of the most important things I’ve learned about shoes and feet over the years.
1. Prioritize Comfort
Be kind to your feet. No shoe is worth perpetual blisters, rubbing, or pain. Footwear comfort impacts your health, posture, and quality of life. You’ll have more energy and better focus throughout the day when you wear comfortable shoes.
2. Comfortable Shoes Are Worth The Price
Comfortable shoes support your natural foot shape and arch, thereby reducing strain. Good support reduces joint stress, which prevents back, hip, and knee pain. Comfortable shoes absorb shock and reduce muscle fatigue, especially if you’re on your feet for hours. That’s why a sizable chunk of your fashion and style budget can go to shoes. Spend more on your most-worn shoes.
3. Follow the Shape of Your Foot
Well-fitting shoes follow the natural shape of your feet. Wider feet can do well with square and round toe boxes. Narrow feet can do well with pointy and almond-shaped toe boxes. High arches may prefer a shaped footbed and the lift of a low heel for foot support and less arch pain. Flatter feet with low arches often prefer a less shaped footbed and flat heels with sturdy soles. Narrow heels like slip-ons with straps that don’t slide off.
4. Wear the Right Size
Look for wide or narrow sizes to achieve optimal fit. If you need extra room in the toe box, try shoes that come in wide sizes. Feet with bunions and high insteps enjoy wider toe boxes. Narrow feet might enjoy a narrow size, especially in sandals. A narrow size sandal prevents the foot from falling through the front of the sandal. A narrow size positions the shoe more securely on the foot.
5. Shoes Can be Altered to Fit
Shoes can be altered to fit comfortably. Too wide? Add insoles. Too narrow? Have them stretched. Too hard? Add socks. Go up a size when adding custom-made orthotics. Adjust the tension of laces.
6. Use Weatherproofing Spray
Leather and suede footwear can be coated with weatherproofing spray to ensure a more robust finish. It won’t make them puddle-proof, but it does help. It takes the edge off, keeping your feet drier and your shoes looking nicer for longer.
7. Pay Attention to Socks
Sometimes it’s not the shoes causing discomfort, but the socks you’re wearing with them. Reinforced toes of socks can rub when they’re too bulky. Too thick socks can make shoes feel tight. No-show socks can bunch up. Too thin socks cause shoes to slip off. Sometimes knee-highs and trouser socks are dead right.
8. Travel with Tried and Tested Shoes
Do not bring new shoes on a trip unless you’ve worn them, road tested them, and you know they go the distance. It’s safer to take older shoes you know are comfortable. Build travel outfits around these tried and tested shoes to ensure a cohesive look.
9. Wear Longer Length Pants To Hide Shoes
If you need to wear shoes that work well for your feet but not your outfit, draw attention away from your shoes by wearing pants and jeans with longer and wider hems. Shoe covering skirts and dresses can work too. That way only a small part of the toe box is visible and you can’t see the rest of the shoe. Keep the shoes low contrast to the pants or jeans so that they disappear. Or, create a contrast with them in a colour that matches the rest of the outfit.
10. Bookend Shoes With Hair
Create a cohesive look by matching, or closely matching, the colour of your footwear with the colour of your hair. Black and brown shoes are great with black and brown hair. Cream, gold, tan, taupe, and toffee are great with the spectrum of blonde hair. Bronze, burnt orange, cognac, and animal print works with redheads. White, silver, and cool-toned snakeskin with grey hair. Brights can bookend rainbow hair. An effective styling tool, but not essential.
11. Create a Complement With Shoes
When you’re pulling a look together by repeating the colours in your outfit, consider repeating the colour with shoes. Match the colour or pattern of footwear with accessories like belts, bags and scarves to create a complement. Or match shoes with the colour of your top or topper.
12. Shoes Can Make an Outfit
If you’re a shoe person who likes to have fun with shoes, wear shoes that make a statement. Wear interesting designs, hardware, and textures, wear non-neutral and metallic footwear, and mismatch and juxtapose footwear in outfits. And WEAR your gorgeous shoes. Don’t just stare at them.
13. Shoes Create Mood
Footwear can ground an outfit, as well as create the vibe of a look. A dressy shoe elevates an outfit, making it look sharper. A causal shoe dresses down a look. Chunky shoes and combat boots add drama and edge. Dainty shoes add refinement and softness. Sneakers worn with dressy outfits add a Sporty Luxe touch.
14. Don’t Underestimate Dressy Flats
Dressy shoes do not need to be high heeled. Dressy footwear like ballet flats, ankle straps pumps, loafers, mules, and sandals can be flat or very low heeled and do the dressy job when they are the right cut, leather, and finish.
15. Rotate Shoes
Rotating between pairs of shoes extends their life and lets them air out. Wearing the same shoes daily can create pressure points, which may lead to discomfort. Different shoes offer varying support, which helps your feet and posture over time. Rotating footwear also allows for better outfit coordination, and ensures wearing the right shoe for the day’s weather conditions, setting, and activities.
16. Use Body Glide and Moleskin
Use anti-chafing balm like BodyGlide to prevent friction on the areas of your feet that are prone to redness and rubbing. Apply the balm before putting on your shoes, and reapply during the day as needed. Do not apply the balm to the underside of your feet because you’ll slip around in your shoes. Alternatively, sticking a bit of moleskin to the inside area of the shoe that’s rubbing your skin can work well too.
17. Maintain Your Shoes
Wipe down dirty shoes, polish leather, replace soles when needed, clean sneakers with specialized sneaker cleaning kits, wash laces, remove dark scuffs with a magic eraser or nail polish remover, and spruce up suede footwear with a suede brush. Use boot shapers in tall boots to retain their shape.
18. Wear Supportive Footwear At Home
Wearing socks or nothing on your feet at home is not for everyone, especially when flooring is hard and there are no carpets. In fact, footwear specialists have advised me to wear shoes at home because walking barefoot is bad for my type of feet. Wear supportive slippers or at-home-only shoes indoors to save your feet.
19. Moisturize, Massage and Foot Exercises
Regular pedicures make your feet look polished and pretty. If they aren’t for you, take care of toenails and calluses at home and keep your feet moisturized. Foot massages can be stress relieving. The right foot exercises can reduce foot pain and strengthen the muscles in your feet.
20. Pass on Uncomfortable Shoes
It’s okay to pass on shoes that no longer work for your feet, even when they’re quite new. Footwear is an ongoing crapshoot when you have fussy feet and do a lot of walking. You can thoughtfully take every “good shopping precaution” beforehand, only to find out that after several road tests that the shoes don’t work and you can’t return them. Accept that it can’t be helped, and give the shoes to someone who can enjoy them.
These tips are by no means exhaustive, so feel free to add to them in the comments section. Remember, happy feet, happy life.
