ask stylebook: goldilocks shoes?

Laura: My new firm is a large firm but has a much more casual culture. I feel too dressy wearing my Washington, DC heels. What type of work shoes are appropriate when heels don’t fit your corporation’s culture? And I prefer not to wear flats or even more casual shoes. I don’t want to fall into the habit of wearing those full-of-comfort-but-lacking-all-style shoes!

Cathy, Style Speaks: Ahh, the search for the in-between, as I like to call it. I love ‘in-between’ pieces: items that are not too dressy, not too casual, but just right in-between. These Goldilocks items are great because you can dress them up or dress them down or, in your case, wear them for occasions when you want to be neither overdressed nor under-dressed. Good qualities of an in-between shoe are: a mid- to low-heel, a peep toe, and a wedge. Or, combine qualities of a casual and a dressier shoe such as a flat, which is casual, but in a patent leather with a pointy toe, which makes it dressier, or a higher heel, which is dressier, but in a wedge with a peep toe, which brings it back to the in between.

Here are a few examples that are currently available at The Shoe Hive.