Choosing shoe styles for different body types

Plushpenguin

I've noticed that most fashion books, magazines etc., have very little to say about what kinds of shoes suit each body type. The advice given is almost always the same: pointed, thin soled shoes with at least some lift are always the most flattering. Usually there will also be some advice about exactly what kind of shoe to wear with various skirt/pant styles. Recently I bought "The Body Shape Bible" (Which I loved) and I noticed that there are very specific shoe styles chosen for each body type. Overall, Trinny and Susannah's shoe choices looked pretty solid, and their suggestions for my body type (between "bell" and "pear") were dead on. So what do you think? Are you one of the many many people who believe that some form of the classic pointy stilleto will suit every body type? I usually favor a chunky high heel with a thick platform and almond toe.

17 years ago

Dressing

12 replies

Latest reply was from Angie

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

I don't think that the classic pointy toed shoe is the best shoe for all body types and outfits ( unlike Stacey London). A heavier boned girl with a wider foot looks better in a more solid looking shoe with a chunkier heel. Also, the effect of a pointy toed shoe is very different when you’re wearing pants and when you’re wearing a skirt or dress. Sometimes, curvier gals in skirts and dainty pointy toed shoes look as though they are going to topple over. A blunt shoe with a sturdy heel can look a lot more balanced in this case.

There are many factors at play when it comes to shoes and body type. There’s the outfit, how much of your leg you’re revealing, the shape of your leg and ankle if you’re revealing it, and your size. T&S make good points about shoes, but I feel that there are other factors at play that make it tricky to generalize down to the level that they do.

17 years ago

Plushpenguin

Active Member

I'm actually very small boned and thin, but I feel that a heavier shoe balances out my exagerated pear shape. I always looked terrible in pointy stilletos. What I liked about their advice is that although they do believe that curvier shoes suit curvier women, they don't think that it's the only aspect of body type to consider when choosing a shoe. It seems to me the wider generalizations about shoes that you usually see are actually wrong more often than their specific choices, if that makes any sense. It's true they didn't offer different shoe types for different outfits, but they're really good at showing you your very best and worst options, both for clothes and shoes. That's what I've always really liked about the way they present their advice.

17 years ago

Plushpenguin

Active Member

Oh, and even though I really like Stacy London, I always hate the way she tries to make people feel like they traded down if they choose any shoe other than a pointy stilleto, like
the shoe is perfect and there's something wrong with them for not looking good in it. She actually does put other kinds of shoes on the manekins sometimes (or maybe that's clinton), but you can tell it pains her to have to guide someone to wear anything else.
I kind of sympathize, since I have the opposite obsession with a well made platform.

17 years ago

Nicole

Veteran

I have wide feet and certain shoe styles make my feet look like pig feet. I like a pointy toe in boots because it elongates my foot making them appear narrower, but pointy toe pumps don't work on me. The opening where you slip foot into shows too much of the top of my foot, making them look like Porky Pig's feet. My husband thinks I'm crazy for even making this observation--but he does not understand the need for shoe perfection!

17 years ago

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Ha Nicole!

You and Plushpenguin make great points and I agree wholeheartedly with them. After specializing in ladieswear for years and dressing every conceivable size and height, I’ve come to the conclusion that generalizing about shoes for feet and body type is very hard – there are just too many variables. Throw in the type of shoe that someone can actually wear and it gets even more complicated. Sigh…….shoes……..it’s a very passionate relationship that I have with them!

17 years ago

Eva

Active Member

One more consideration. I think shoe size makes a difference as well. I am a petite pear and have a 5 1/2 to 6 shoe size. I like pointier shoes better because the round shoes make my feet look stubby, particularly in flats. However, I have a pair of Oxford heels that look cute (they make my feet look very small) in a skirt and tights.

17 years ago

mayapple

Active Member

I think shorter girls need shorter heels, otherwise the proportion of the heel to the body is really bizarre. Even Stacy admits that much, and she is basically the shoe police.

I also like smaller heels for smaller feet. Heels do a lot of things, one of which is make feet smaller...but when you already have small feet, it almost gives the appearance of foot binding, which I find difficult to look at.

I have a love-hate relationship with shoes. My feet are extremely wide to a point where I have accepted that I can't wear a medium width anymore, so my choices have been stifled significantly. Most brands don't offer wide widths, and when they do the shoes are usually of the orthopedic sort. Even then, most manufacturers start a wide width at 7, which is a half size too big for me. So if I'm lucky enough to find a cute pair of shoes in a 6.5W, there are still all the other considerations that come with buying shoes. Is the material too stiff? Is it too high?

I also can't wear pointy toes or Converse sneakers because the width of my foot distorts them and they pinch my toes, and I can't wear d'orsay shoes because my feet are flat and just spill out over the side.

So what's left? I don't know. I just think I have to give up on my obsession with shoes and focus on something else like handbags or jewelry.

I got off track here, but I had to complain somewhere...

17 years ago

Becky

Veteran

mayapple, I also wear a 6.5W (or a 6 WW), and I have had pretty good luck with zappos.com . At least with zappos you can order the shoes, try them on, and if you have to send them back, you're not out the shipping costs.

17 years ago

mayapple

Active Member

Becky, I have found a lot of shoes that are stated as 6.5W on Zappos, but SO many of them end up being voted as "narrower than marked," so a wide feels more like a medium and a medium is narrow. I have had that problem consistently with Naturalizer. They claim to have a lot of shoes in a wide, but they run so narrow that a wide is basically a medium. After I wrote this post I logged onto Zappos to see, and literally almost every pair I looked at that had a review was "narrower than marked." I don't understand why shoe manufacturers have such issues making genuinely wide widths. Maybe they think my plus size feet will make their shoes look ugly...

17 years ago

Becky

Veteran

I agree...many of the "wides" aren't really wide...I do tend to like my shoes a bit snug to keep them from slipping around since my heels are much narrower. The WW shoes seem to be completely square! I sometimes have to put heel grips in to keep them from slipping, even though the width fits the middle of my foot fine.

17 years ago

Nicole

Veteran

While we are talking about shoes.....and summer being right around the corner... May I rant a bit?

Please make sure your feet are completely contained inside your sandal. If your toe or heel are hanging over the footbed, then go up a size or two! PLEASE!!!! And while your paying attention to your feet..check out your heels. If they are nasty (you know what I'm talking about !) don't wear sandals--PLEASE!! Get that taken care of before summer comes! If you can't tolerate a pedicure, there are products out there that you can use at home to keep your feet beautiful.

Ok sorry about that...just had to get that off my chest.

17 years ago

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Nice one Nicole. I realized that the Nexcare foot cream product I recommended is $6 and not $11. Start using that now and say goodbye to ashy feet.

http://youlookfab.com/2008/01/.....etty-feet/

17 years ago

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