Question about bookending

MuseumGal

When you bookend (match shoes to hair) do you worry about bringing in the color somewhere else in the outfit? For instance if you are bookending your brown hair with brown boots, but wearing a mostly black/grey outfit, would you try to include some brown accessories (e.g. purse, scarf, or jewelry)? Or just not worry about it and figure the bookending has done its job? Sorry if this is nitpicky, but, well, I can be pretty detail oriented. (Except, you know, when I'm not.)

12 years ago

Dressing

12 replies

Latest reply was from Suz

Anonymous

I don't worry about it, but by all means, bring it in if it makes you feel most comfortable .

Remember that your footwear is most often seen at a distance rather than close up and the bookending will pull your outfit together.

12 years ago

Liz

Veteran

Interesting question. Personally, I would definitely bring in brown somewhere else, or I'd feel like I was wearing the wrong shoes for my outfit. If I could, I'd probably go with a different solution, like colored shoes (green, red, blue) or light neutral shoes (cream, silver, light gray, or gray/taupe).

12 years ago

(website)

Veteran

Nah. I used cognac boots with a red, white and grey (later more white after BF poo poohed my mix lol) and no more caramel colors anywhere else but my hair.

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12 years ago

merwoman

Veteran

ha ha - you sound a lot like me
I think Joy has the right approach. I've interpreted bookending for me as follows - since I have dark hair, I can always wear dark footwear and not be committing a fashion faux pas. I hope no one corrects this interpretation

12 years ago

JAileen

Veteran

I try to bring it in again. I'm actually very matchy matchy and I'm trying to break away from that.

12 years ago

Elizabeth P

Veteran

Curious to see what responses you get... I generally wear black boots/shoes in the winter, and my hair was dark. But as my hair gets more and more white/silver, the bookending question is starting to creep into my thinking. I can't wear white boots all winter! I do have some white/black booties winging their way to me... but still.

12 years ago

MuseumGal

Veteran

Thanks everyone! The 'answer' seems to be 'whatever you please,' which is probably a pretty good fashion/style motto in general, eh?

12 years ago

Laura (rhubarbgirl)

(website)

Veteran

I don't generally wear black with brown or black with navy (I know, I'm old fashioned). I end up wearing non-black shoes with outfits that don't include a lot of black. I guess that's less about bookending and more about trying to make sure my use of black is intentional. Like, for example, an outfit that has a bright colored top and blue denim jeans: I think black shoes often look boring with that, and a non-black shoe like a shade of brown will be more interesting.

tl;dr: I try to wear black shoes only when my outfit has other black in it, not just for bookending.

Elizabeth, what about taupe, tan, silver, nude, those sorts of colors to bookend with your hair?

12 years ago

Anonymous

Even though brown bookends my hair, I have a pixie cut so there's not much hair. For this reason, I always feel the need to make sure there's brown elsewhere in the outfit and/or accessories. IMO, it's all about the visible quantity. Whatever shoe color I choose, there needs to be considerable amounts of that color elsewhere in the outfit and/or accessories to "bring the color up" and make the entire look more cohesive. Hope this helps.

12 years ago

Veteran

I tend to be matchy matchy re: repeating colours, and I only have one pair of shoes that actually matches my hair anyway, so I'm not sure. But I think the idea of bookending is that you always look cohesive when your shoes match your hair?

12 years ago

K. Period.

Veteran

I think it depends. I take into account two things: First, how dark or light the bookending item is. I bookend with camel or caramel (a slightly darker version of my blonde hair) and white/off-white/very light tan or nude (lighter versions of my blonde hair). The white group is lighter and therefore less subtle and therefore harder, so I bring more white or light elements into the outfit to help balance it. The camel group is slightly darker, so more subtle and I don't feel like it needs the second element as much. However, that brings me to my second consideration. Second, I consider how high contrast the outfit itself is. If it is low contrast, then I don't worry as much about adding a second element. If it is high contrast, then I prefer to add that second element. So, a white shoe with a dark outfit gets the most second elementing treatment, a white shoe with a lighter outfit gets less, and a mid-tone outfit with camel gets the least.

12 years ago

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Yeah. What they said. What you said, too.

And just to complicate matters further, you can bookend using other than hair and shoes. So...you could bookend light footwear to a light top.

I have one pair of shoes that sort of matches my hair. I like the effect they give. I must admit that just on their own they seem to provide some cohesion. My other lighter footwear doesn't match but still can bring some element of cohesion to an outfit -- but on the other hand, I might be more tempted to bring those colours into the outfit elsewhere as well.

12 years ago

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