I love a good ballet flat with the right outfit. But with the opaque tights, that is so wrong to my eye. Or with socks, shudder.

I tuck all my ballet flats in for a long winter's nap come mid-fall.

Lots of interesting comments here!

Love Sal and me too, came to YLF through her. I love her spunk and quirky style, her tricks are instructive and valuable.

As for this particular outfit, although I think it looks good on her, I personally would go for a longer skirt. As stated by Angie, it's all in the length.

As for the ballet flats here, I am not shocked by them in her outfit: it matches the skirt length. However, if the dress were longer, I am not sure ballet flats would be the best option on her. On Angie it looks great because she has the height and longer calves. But it is tricky for anyone with muscular legs.

I do love her jacket! Perfect length for her!

The outfit has something "girly" about it. Maybe that is why you have a poison eye?

I read Sally's blog every day, and I remember thinking "not with those shoes" when she posted this. I like (and have) ballet flats, but on my short muscular legs I only like them with jeans or slim pants. I would do an oxford or a heeled bootie. For some reason, flat oxfords look ok on me with skirts, while ballet flats don't. Maybe I'm just madly in love with oxfords right now and it's giving me "sugar eye".

It's a cute look but I am with others it seems a bit dated.

It looks very Sal to me!

I have poison eye for this type of above the knee skirt with gathers, on all but the most slim and youthful. To me, the full skirts Angie wears are very different - longer and also flared from the hip rather than gathered at the waist.
It's interesting to me that Sal wears these skirts so often, because I also have full hips and avoid this style. I don't like extra bulk on my waist and I guess have a general preference for very basic styles on my bottom half since I want to balance and add interest on top. And frankly, I think she looks slimmer in other styles. Of course, I agree with her credo that slimming is not the be-all end-all of clothing choices, and I generally love her attitude. But having spent a few hours in her archives after you posted this, I don't love too many of her looks.

Agree with you, Jules. Skirts that short and full only really look right on girls and very young women. Being very slender helps. My nine-year-old wears that sort of skirt quite often, and it's cute as can be on her.

Sally might have just been able to pull off that outfit with a pair of boots with some substance to them, to add balance. The ballet flats only amplify the "little girl" vibe. Having said that, I do think that ballet flats can look chic and grown-up with the right outfit. They are not off-limits to older women!