I was recently telling my neighbor about my whole socks-are-against-my-religion thing (on a day when the temperature dropped I swear to you TEN DEGREES while we stood in her driveway) and she was coming up with all sorts of great solutions for me (because I was wearing a dress and no tights and was moaning about how COLD I was) (although in my defense the temperature went from the low 60s to the low 30s in about three hours that day so bare legs were SORT OF appropriate, for a little while at least).

Where was I? Oh right — what to wear if you don’t want to wear socks.
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A ridiculously long time ago, I had the following lovely email from Kristen:

I’m 30 years old with 4 yo boy/girl twins. I stayed home with them until they started preschool in August of last year. Now I have a flexible job where I work the same hours that they’re in school. My job is really casual i.e. jeans and sweaters are just fine. When I wore slacks, white blouse and a sweater vest one day, my boss wanted to know if I had an interview somewhere! I’m at a community development not-for-profit organization so I generally work/meet with people in similar offices and dress codes. Personally, I would prefer to spruce up a little more, but am met with comments *all day long* when I do so I just tone it down: dark jeans, button-down, thin knit sweater and a pretty necklace.

I recently bought a lovely pair of dark olive green driving mocs. They have a bit of sheen to them although I wouldn’t exactly say they’re patent. They have the treads on the bottom which lends a more casual feel. When I bought them, I envisioned wearing them with everything: khakis, jeans, etc. My problem? SOCKS! Color? Texture? I’m really sad because I haven’t worn my shoes at all yet. Trouser socks seem too insubstantial and slippery, but I don’t know about cotton crew socks. Both brown and black socks just look wrong to me with the beautiful green color.

Kristen, I hope those shoes haven’t been sitting the closet all this time, because they sound fantastic.
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We’ve talked about suits and what to wear under them, but what about your feet? When you’re going to a job interview, you want to be sure that from head to toe, you look professional and capable, which means that you want to choose shoes that are the right heel height and style for your suit AND are appropriate for the office and the job.

A couple of general guidelines: interview shoes should not be too sexy, nor should they be too flashy. Toe cleavage and fabulous embellishment are both completely appropriate in a work shoe, but not in an interview shoe. The idea is not to draw attention to your shoes but to create an overall impression of competence and professionalism. For this reason, your shoes should be clean and polished; this is a good time to take are of any repairs that you have been putting off, like new soles or heels or a good cleaning.

Beyond that, you have four basic choices; go with the one that fits both your style and the office’s style, and that works best with your interview suit.
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Crist has a question about shoes:

I need some knock-about shoes. For lack of a better description, I need some stylish tennis shoes that are sleek and more streamlined than the shoes I work out in. I see cute pairs on many a girl, but have never actually found any I’ve desired to even try on.

The other morning my kids and I were talking about shoes at the breakfast table (what, you don’t have conversations about footwear with your children during the Most Important Meal of the Day?) and my five-year-old asked why I did not own any tennis shoes. And I said that of COURSE I did, and he said, “No, those are not tennis shoes; you cannot play basketball in those.”

Point taken.
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SoftwareMom has a question.

You’ve addressed open-toes shoes in the workplace, and we all know your position on flip-flops, but I’ve been wondering about slingbacks and mules. Are they ok in a casual, jeans-wearing office? If so, how dressy can you go before they become a no-no? What if the mules are worn with socks?

Oooh good question!

Caligarius Durante slingbacks, Zappos, $208.75
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Because it is Thanksgiving, and I am thankful for ALL of you, with your witty comments and your lovely work clothes and your terrific shoes, I want to share this with you: Steve Madden has a Design Your Own Collection option.

You heard me: DESIGN YOUR OWN SHOES. You’re welcome!
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My e-mail box is OVERFLOWING with terrific questions about work wear and casual wear and wedding wear, and I’m FINALLY tackling them. Today: metallic shoes for work.

I buy one really nice item for myself every now and then. These days I’ve been ogling J.Crew’s distressed leather metallic Mary Janes in silver. I’m an attorney and go to court all the time, so I wear a lot of black and gray suits. Very boring. Do you think the silver shoes are just too daring to be professional? Or, could I pull them off??? I’m 36 with 2 kids so I really have no business in heels or in spending $250 for a pair of shoes, but my vanity is still there and I just got a small bonus.

Erica

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Val works in a library, and she’s looking to upgrade her work wardrobe, from the bottom up (if you will):

I mostly wear jeans to work. I also wear athletic shoes, because I’m on my feet a lot and occasionally deal with flare ups of Plantar Fasciitis.

Our university just merged with the medical university in our town and they have a much more “corporate” setting. My colleagues and I feel it’s only a matter of time before they implement a dress code. I’ve picked up a few things that I like; things I could probably wear to work without a problem - if I could figure out what to put on my feet! So, I’ve begun looking into shoes that I can wear with clothing
other than jeans. And that leads me to my question, which is a two-parter:

Given that I live in Ohio and winter will be here soon, what the heck should I be looking for to wear with dress pants? And what should I be wearing on my feet underneath those shoes, that won’t look completely stupid but will still prevent me from freezing off my toes?

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Today we have two questions about shoes, and an announcement about the contest. Let’s start with the shoes, shall we?

I have a question for you. What to wear with the cute mary janes in the shoe stores for fall. I’m lusting over some brown suede ones but I don’t have a clue as to what to wear with them. I work in a very casual office so I’m in mostly jeans and kahakis. I’m thinking they would work with both of them but would I wear hoses with them? (please say no!!) socks? or just go bare? I’m in the south so that would work for a while but eventually even in South Carolina we do have winter.

Thanks for any help you can give me!

Shelly

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