Help: How do I know if an essential no longer essential?

For years a summer essential for me has been a pair of respectable, walkable brown sandals. They bookend my hair, I can wear them to work, when being a tourist and with more casual outfits. My latest pair gave up the ghost and after much searching I settled on these:
http://shop.nordstrom.com/s/mu.....al/3212418

Now, summer is NOT my dominant season, so I try to be cautious in how many sandals I buy. (I grew up in San Diego and LOVE sandals.) And now that they're here, I don't know if I really need these. My summer wardrobe is mostly black, brown, denim, turquoise and coral. (I used to wear more brown and tan in the summer.) So while these sandals would work with some of my outfits, I'm afraid they may not get the kind of workout my previous pairs did.

Part of me is thinking I need to send these back and move on, but part of me is afraid that if I let them go I'll realize I do need them. Any ideas on how to test to see if I need these?

Or vote:
Yay: Keep them, they're a basic
Nay: Send them back and move on!

12 years ago

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Wow. That is a great question.

But first, allow me to compliment you on your selection. At first I got super excited because I thought maybe the "stone" version of these could serve as my holy grail "white" sandal this year. But alas. They are sold out in my size.

Anyway, back to you.

These are especially handsome in the saddle colour. And they would indeed bookend your hair extremely well.

Here is my idea: try them with various possible outfits and take pics. You don't have to show us if you don't like. Just compare them to some other pics of the same outfits with whatever other sandals you might wear. And on that basis, their current necessity (or not) will probably reveal itself.

Glory

I echo Suz - an absolute fab choice - totally love it and can picture it doing everything you have said from work to casual. Honestly I know I would keep them because they appeal to me on so many levels. I see them as a foundation item. But you have to love them. Try them with a few options and see how you feel. I think if they work with several outfits you have a winner.

rachylou

I think these are great and may go with more than one might suspect.

Marley

I don't know why these wouldn't go with all of the colors that you mentioned that comprise your summer wardrobe. Or, maybe it would be fun to change it up and get the stone instead? They would serve as a neutral and elongate the look of your leg. Do you have other sandals to wear this summer and so is that why you are questioning whether or not you should keep these? Or, are you wondering if you don't really need sandals at all?

missvee

I love the brown colour and the shoes are a great style - not too casual or too dressy. But like Marley I'm wondering why you are hesitating.

unfrumped

Great question and so "it depends" .

One thing is how to decide if something that is still very good and could be useful is actually essential, or if you want to skip it in favor of other items. So, how high do you want to set the "need" bar and can you have your cake and eat it too ? That really depends.

The sandals could be great, but perhaps you just don't envision wearing them much and could make do without. Versus, if you still like to wear them with some key outfits and it makes dressing easy-peasy, then that is a help. (That also fits under my purge criteria--since I have some space for lesser-worn but useful items). Loose criteria is , do they go with outfits. Hard criteria: can you make just as good outfits another way.

I had always thought I needed to keep some tan or khaki dress trousers in my wardrobe. So I bought another pair this spring. Then I figured out, what am I doing? These take different footwear than most of my other clothing and still have to keep updating from time to time, and there would be other ways to have more variety in wardrobe that go with more other things. So now trying to do no more. However, skirt in similar color, OTOH, is different because a goal for several of my skirts & dresses is to have low-ish-contrast footwear, exposed leg and skirt continuum.

Mary Beth (formerly LBD)

Did you put them on and immediately LOVE them, and say "OMG these are my be-all, end-all summer sandals" ? You mentioned above that you're from San Diego and LOVE sandals, but I'm not hearing the excitement in your voice about these sandals.

I am going to echo the other gals here: try them on with favorite outfits, snap pictures, and see what you think. But to keep them just because you're 'supposed to' replace or even have a pair of sandals, is not the same as loving how they look and feel when you put them on, which means you are probably going to reach for other shoes that you love more.

Helena

Those look very versatile to me ... however, I'm a big believer in if you don't love it, wait until you find something you do ... so if the hesitation is more that you don't love them or you're 'over' that particular staple, vs. you love them but are not sure that you need them, I'm sure you'll find other equally versatile pairs if you do decide to move on.

Nadya

Thank you all for your thoughtful replies! It helped me realize that part of my hesitation is shopping fatigue - I've had a hard time finding the right pair and am having the same issue with new black work sandals. Then when they finally got here (after a few go rounds with sizing) I just kind of hit the wall. That, plus the fact out summer starts slow, so some days I feel like there will only BE a week of sandal weather!

Driving home today I started thinking of outfits to make with them, and realized that with their bronze sheen, I really need to treat them as a metallic neutral, which opens up new possibilities.

Looks like their keepers. Thanks so much, YLF posse!

Anonymous

It sounds li,e you have it figured out, but you brought up an excellent point about how we continue to think of something as a wardrobe essential when we have moved on. Black shoes, I'm looking at you.

I'm glad you're getting those sandals. They look wonderfully versatile ... I may need them for my own book-ending purposes.

Well I'm glad you've decided Nadya, but you've raised a question I've been thinking about. I think it's a good idea to ask ourselves that when we keep reaching for the same item in the stores, year after year. Sometimes it's nice to switch things up. I've always loved brown sandals in the summer too, but my hair doesn't have that much brown in it anymore, lol! I have a tan pair now that works as nude for me and they do the job that the brown ones used to do.

Claire, Joy and others who pointed out its good to question our habits:

I often adopt an outfit formula that works and then keep buying pieces for it even after I've moved on. Some past examples: button downs over ribbed tanks, cardigans over anything sleeveless, black knit tops.... And the the last generation become orphas because I'm still buying for old formulas! Since I became aware of this I try to question anything I'm replacing to make sure it's still appropriate. Not that I always catch myself!

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