A Beatle bootie is a flat bootie with a pointy toe, and it’s one of five flat footwear trends for Fall. Although Beatle booties don’t resemble what the Beatles wore in the ’60s all that closely, they did serve as an inspiration for this look. Some Beatle booties have a one inch heel as opposed to being completely flat, and a zipper instead of elastic inserts that make them a pull-on style. Some toe boxes are less pointy than others. Almond toes count as pointy toes too.
Beatle booties are an acquired taste. They are flat, when most women prefer leg-lengthening (and arch supporting) low or mid-sized heels on boots. They are pointy, which can mean uncomfortable toe-squishing, bad flashbacks from the ’80s, and the potential to make your feet look disproportionately long or elf-like. On the other hand, the pointy toe does help to offset the stumpiness and elongate the leg line.
If you bat for Team Beatle Booties, here are five ways to wear them.
1. With Tapered Jeans
Choose skinny or straight leg jeans in a solid or a pattern. Creating a low contrast between the jeans and the boots achieves a longer leg line, as per the first picture. Tucking, semi-tucking or faux tucking the top further lengthens the leg line.
If you do create a high contrast between the booties and the jeans, the tucking becomes more important. That’s how I wear my white Beatle booties with high contrasting black tapered pants.
2. With Tapered Trousers
Here the same tips apply. Create a low contrast and show the waistband of the bottoms. If tucking or semi tucking is not your thing, create a column of colour instead. That means wearing a top and bottom in the same (or very similar) colour. That way you lengthen your entire frame, which visually offsets the stumpy effect of the booties.
“Tapered legs” does not mean skinnies alone, but also includes straight legs and any baggier style of trouser that narrows at the bottom of the leg.
I don’t suggest pairing Beatle booties with bootcut or flared trousers unless you have extremely long legs and a short torso. Most of the time, bootcuts and flares look better with a heel, even if it’s only a low heel.
3. With Cropped Pants
Matching ankle pants or cropped pants with flat pointy booties is ultra fashion forward, yet quite stumpifying no matter how you slice and dice it. But it’s edgy, and often these days we will forgo a little conventional figure flattery to create that edge. You’ll fare better if you have a naturally long leg line, AND if you keep the colour of the pants and the booties the same (or at least very similar), as in the first picture below. That way your leg looks like an extension of the pants. Of course, creating a column of colour as shown in the second picture lengthens the entire frame and to my eye looks better.
The third picture is the most stumpifying because of the high contrast between the booties and the floral pants, the cropped nature of the pants, and the untucked high contrast sweater worn with the outfit. Not very flattering in a conventional sense, but on the cutting edge of fashion nonetheless.
4. With Dresses
It’s an acquired taste to wear Beatle booties with dresses, especially knee-covering midis where the frump factor sets in pretty fast. I like the low contrast between the white booties and the model’s bare skin because that effect makes your legs look longer. But It’s often a better idea to raise the hemline of the dress to above the knee when you wear flat booties, because it creates more flattering proportions.
I recreated this outfit with a formfitting long sleeved midi dress and exactly the same white booties. I did not like the effect because of the gaping spaces around my ankle, much like what you see on the model. I am becoming less tolerant of booties that gape even a little too much when wearing them with skirts and dresses. A little gape is fashionably acceptable, but I prefer a tailored fit on my own ankles.
5. With Shorter Hemlines
This combination is all about wearing shorts, and short skirts or dresses with Beatle booties. Skin equals structure, so showing more leg adds structure to an otherwise stumpy outfit. Wearing booties that are low contrast against your complexion further elongates the leg line, as shown in the first picture.
One and two are the easiest ways to wear Beatle booties, and that’s going to be it for me because my booties gape too much at the ankle to be worn with midi dresses and shorter hemlines. I am warming up to three — with cropped pants — and might give that a go in Spring.
I loved the shape of the flat pointy toe bootie when it surfaced as a very fringe trend last year. I’m drawn to the modern, crisp, refined and “new” shape amidst an overload of casual, chunky, distressed, biker and cowboy-esque boots that are flooding the retail market. I’m an ’80s gal at heart so I enjoy pointy toes. And most importantly, their potential for keeping my fussy walking feet happy is ideal. So I snapped up the white pair from Zara, which were love at first sight, and put them through their paces over the weekend. I’m absolutely thrilled with them.
How do you feel about wearing Beatle booties? Will you forego a little conventional figure flattery just for fun, to be fashion forward and edgy, or possibly for the extra comfort?
