Black Shoes DON'T Go With Navy. They Just Don't.

Several years ago, a secret underground movement began: a movement to persuade all Americans that it was perfectly fine to wear black shoes with navy clothing. This movement has been so successful, in fact, that if you are under the age of thirty you are probably furrowing your brow right now, wondering why I might think that was not okay.

If you've read my writing blog (or know me in real life), you might think I'm just a bit of a stickler. But the truth is, I'm not a color purist. I'm really not the kind of person who fusses much about appearances, and I haven't an artistic bone in my body. What's more, I LIKE the new acceptability of brown and black together--I love my chocolate-brown suit with a black blouse and black shoes. But certain lines must be drawn, and this one is definite: black shoes do not go with navy clothing.

Perhaps you're thinking that it should be a matter of personal choice. I don't disagree. The problem is that since the Myth that Black Goes with Navy has begun to seep into popular consciousness, it's almost impossible to find a good pair of navy shoes.

Earlier this week, I had occasion to wear a suit. A navy suit. Suits aren't often required in my current profession, so I hadn't worn the suit in a couple of years and it had slipped my mind that I hadn't been able to find any good navy shoes the last time around. Reluctantly, I put on some black shoes and set off for the city, worrying about them every step of the way. But on the train, I had a revelation: I work in the same building as Macy's (formerly the flagship Marshall Field & Co.). I can buy new shoes!

This shouldn't have come as a surprise to me. After all, it's not the first time I've had to go emergency shoe shopping at work. So there I was, all relieved. I could just pop into Macy's and buy a pair of navy pumps!

Ha.

Obviously, I'd forgotten the Endless But Unsuccessful Quest for Navy Heels I'd undertaken a couple of years earlier.

The first shoe clerk I asked at Macy's told me they didn't really have any navy shoes (more on the whole Macy's experience to come in my next post). The second was able to find me a few options, but said that they really didn't have much navy. "It's odd," she said, "because I get a lot of requests for navy dress shoes."

I laughed and asked her whether those requests mostly came from women my age. The poor girl looked hesitantly at me--she was approximately half my age and probably wasn't sure whether or not "women my age" was an insult. I didn't want to leave her hanging, so I added "We haven't really bought in to that whole 'black shoes go with navy' thing." She smiled and said, "Yeah, that could be it." And then she found me some lovely navy slingback pumps that were...you know...THE SAME COLOR AS MY SUIT.

So what's your take? Do you wear black shoes with navy? Was it a tough adjustment? Or are you too young to know better?

Shoes, Take II

Some of you may recall that this blog was born because of a pair of shoes...or rather, a couple of shoes that were decidedly NOT a pair. Yesterday, I made the disappointing discovery that my shoe impairment is hereditary.

It came as a shock, to be honest. For me, it was a bit of a stretch to HAVE enough variety in shoes to mismatch them. My daughter is of another world. She has silver shoes and red sparkle shoes, orange sandles and hightops painted with roses. She has shiny cream colored shoes and high-heeled black boots and brown suede shoes with flowers on them. She has paint-spattered tennis shoes and shiny aqua Skechers and...well, you get the idea. She knows shoes. She pays attention to shoes.

Well, except these shoes:


In case you can't tell (since the contrast, admittedly, is nowhere near so dramatic as the contrast in the original shoe post), the shoe on the left is a size 5 1/2 little brown number, and the shoe on the right would be its perfect companion...were it not a size 6 1/2.

My daughter and her friend bought identical shoes for their show choir performance at Disney last week, and we all happen to have shared a hotel room. The result was that, about three days after we returned, Tori noticed that she had brought home the "pair" above. Apparently, another child has a mirror image pair at HER house...

The only piece of good news is that the smaller one is my daughter's, so at least I know she wasn't dancing with that plastic loop with the pointy thing on it inside her shoe. And maybe that she's not QUITE as shoe-obsessed as I had originally feared...