Ever sew up a garment or buy something and then realise you have no shoes to wear with it? Shoes are my styling kryptonite, basically because I never want to wear heels again in my entire life. Because SO MUCH ‘fashion’ and especially plus-size fashion is shown with high-heels, I’ve been thinking a lot abut how to make shoe-first outfit recipes!
Two thoughts
- It’s so hard to find plus-size style inspiration, especially if you’re looking to get specific.
- So much of the plus size info you do find online is ultra-femme- high heels, lots of makeup
It’s very hard to be reflected and therefore inspired, whether you’re trying to find less feminine flat shoe outfits or even flat shoe outfits that are feminine. Searching ‘flat shoe style’ gets you plenty of hits on Pinterest but ‘flat shoe style plus size’ gets you fat women in high heels!
How I’m going to fix this
For myself mostly, but maybe also for you? I’ve started a Pinterest Board of fat bodies with flat shoes (separated into different styles of shoes) AND I’m going to work my way through my wardrobe and shoe-drobe to prove to myself that I can wear flat shoes with basically anything.
Up first is sneakers, but since I already feel confident that I can wear sneakers with pants, I concentrated on sneakers with dresses and skirts (also check out the Sporty Sneakers section of the Pinterest board). Above is a Muna and Broad 3-piece set with a Whitlam Skirt, Tarlee T-Shirt, and Lobethal Shirt with fluffy Allbirds sneakers that I bought 2nd-hand on TradeMe (I no longer shop directly with Allbirds since they released clothing in a really un-inclusive size range).
The same sneakers are below with my colourblocked Alistra Dress. Both of these combos feel put-together but very wearable, like I could go out for a summery evening meal and not be too stressed out (a real concern for this anxious dresser).
Below is a little roundup from the archive of past posts of outfits that have included sneakers! You can see my favourite pants, the Glebe Pants, take excellently to sneaker-ifying.
Below is an homage to Leila, a black-on-black Torrens Box Top and Whitlam Skirt paired with sporty black sneakers. The skirt is a ribbed deadstock merino with lots of stretch from The Fabric Store and the top is a self-check linen from Drapers Fabric (I’ve almost entirely avoided shopping there since they released a range of patterns in un-inclusive sizing). Both the skirt and the top have sheer sections in their weave, so you might see that I’ve got a black Banksia Bralette and a mashup of the Waratah and Kapunda Undies on too.
The sneakers are black Serrano Onitsuka Tigers- I think I think these sneakers are cool because of Uma Thurman in Kill Bill, but also early adulthood crush nostalgia. Below I’ve paired them with a black cotton rib Alistra Dress.
A full black outfit reads as so cool to me- I really wish I could find another, much lighter, colour that looks as ‘stylish’ but isn’t black!
I suppose these pictures have proven to me that sneakers are something that I could pair with most of my me-mades to wear out at night and look at least like I made a style choice, if not a stylish choice.
Stay tuned because there’s a few more flat-shoe styles that I’d like to work through, including maybe even trying to give boots another go!
I only wear flat shoes as well. I have found that City Chic and Torrid have a great selection of flat dress shoes at a reasonable price. They don’t always have something that I like but as long as I keep checking, I’m usually able to find something. I now have multiple types of boots, sandals, sneakers, and flats so that I can always find something that looks good with my me-made clothes!
I have the same problem. Shoes must be flat but I like them rather chunky (to balance out height weight dimensions etc). Big body and tiny feet doesn’t work for me. I never wear sneekers and prefer..brands like birkenstock, duckfeet, trippen. Also flat ankle boots are the best… and I don’t care if I wear the same shoes 365 days a year. If I need something dressier then it’s flats that I’ve had for 15 years….. they obviously don’t get out much !!
All-black outfits really are stylish in that particular way that is so hard to replicate with any other colour.
I’m heartily sick of wearing black myself, after spending over 15 years wearing mostly black because it was usually the least awful colour available in plus-size clothes.
How to achieve the same level of coolness without wearing black? I’ve been pondering that. No conclusions reached yet.
This is an absolutely BRILLIANT idea Jess. Shoes are always the problem for me when I make something then it is almost worn out before I find the ‘right’ shoe to style it with. I only like flat shoes as well, or just a tiny bit of a heel so I am hopping onto your Pinterest right now to check out all the ideas. I have been thinking about planning my wardrobe by starting with the shoes and working upwards. That should really be a ‘thing’.
I’m in the flat supportive shoe gang too. What a great pinterest board.