What you wear on your feet defines who you are almost as much as the clothes

that you're wearing. We've seen many examples, some in the media and some in

real life, when the wrong choice of footwear completely ruins the ensemble

of what that person is wearing. More than picking special shoes for special

occasions, shopping for shoes is a matter of picking the right shoe for the

right occasion.

Shoe designers will tell you that shoe fashion has evolved to a point that

you can build your wardrobe around your shoes. And while this is true, it

can lead to faux-pas as bad as picking wrong shoes for the set of clothes

that you're wearing. This may be especially true for *ladies shoes*, since

they're often the most fashion forward. Being aware that the right shoe can

make or break your image, this leads to an increase in the pressure when the

time comes to step into the store and buy a pair of shoes for a more

important occasion.

Buying casual shoes is relatively easy. You pick comfort and practicality

over design, while still, of course, keeping an eye for what's pretty. But

dress shoes are an entirely different animal and can be much trickier to

pick. In a sense, unless you feel that you'll be on your feet for a very

long time, comfort is often not an issue. However, you should keep in mind

that the best shoe designers do have comfort in mind when making their

shoes, no matter how uncomfortable they look. But these aren't for

everyone's budget, so we won't be especially focusing on them.

We would advise you to pick your clothes before picking your shoes and then

making sure that they match. Just remember that matching isn't necessarily a

manner of color. Many people think that blue will go with blue and that

black will go with anything, and they limit their choices to that. But

before being a certain color, a shoe is of a certain style, and that's the

first thing that you need to look at. Once the style matches the style of

the clothes you'll be wearing, color will become less of an issue and it

will give you more room to play around. Don't be afraid of playing around

with color, as that will be what gives that extra flair to your outfit and

it may be the difference between a pretty outfit and something that makes

you stand out.