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- [00:00]
Jennifer McUmary
Foreign.
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Co-host
Welcome back to the second installment of the Everyday Style School Summer Shorts, our weekly summer series sharing a quick style thought or tip to help you save time, save money, and get the wardrobe you've always wanted. I'm your host, Jennifer McUmary. I've been dressing women for over 25 years and I'm on a mission to help you love the way you look and every single day. Today's thought is the one I've probably repeated the most on this top 10 list of mine, but it's probably one of my most misunderstood pieces of advice, and that is Shoes Define your style. Today. I want to explain what I mean by this and also what I don't mean, but that women here anyway. Then I'm going to share how not taking this advice to heart hurts your wardrobe and and what to do differently going forward. What I mean by shoes define your style is that what you put on your feet affects and can change the overall style of your outfit. Imagine that you are wearing a really polished, expensive designer sheath dress that fits you beautifully and is perfect for the office or other dressy events. Now, if you pair that dress with nice heels, the whole outfit looks like it's supposed to, right? But if you wear that dress with a pair of Crocs or a pair of hey dudes. The dress no longer looks polished or sophisticated. The outfit takes on the level of style of the shoes. Now that may be an extreme example to illustrate my point, but I've seen this a million times over the years. Women will put together a really cute outfit and then think what they put on their feet is just neutral. Like the outfit stops at the ankles. It doesn't. The shoes matter and the shoes define your style. I once worked with a client who hired me because no matter what she did or what she bought, her look just wasn't coming together. And during the closet edit, I could not figure it out because she had really cute things that were current and looked really nice on her. Then we got to her shoes and her closet was filled with rows of dusty heels that she never wore. So I asked where her everyday shoes were and she just kind of shrugged and said, oh, I just usually wear my uglies. I keep them by the door. Ding ding ding. Well, friends, I think we found the problem. She was wearing what she described as uglies every day, but then expected her outfits to turn out cute. On our shopping trip, we focused really mostly on shoes, which completely changed her wardrobe and made all the pieces come together. Her shoes were now matching the style she wanted to project instead of fighting. It makes sense, right? Earlier, I told you this advice is often misunderstood. And here's what usually happens. I say shoes define your style, and women hear you have to wear uncomfortable heels in order to be stylish. Never said that. But I think this speaks to a larger belief that style is something that has to be difficult or uncomfortable or is only for times when it, quote, unquote, matters, which is what we talked about last week. This is not what I'm saying at all. And this is what my entire business is based on. The idea that you can have style every day for the way you really live, even if it's just going to the dog park or running errands. And again, that was the entire point of the first episode in this series, that dressing well doesn't have to mean dressing up. And that goes right to your shoes, too. For the client I told you about, pulling her wardrobe together was as simple as trading those clunky, dowdy Merrell clogs for a pair of stylish sneakers and some comfortable, cute flats. We didn't put her in stilettos to take her kids to the park. We simply found stylish shoes for the way she really lived. Now, the other thing I hear when I say shoes define your style is, oh, that's not true for me, because I have problem feet and can't find shoes I like. But it is true, whether you want it to be or not. Listen, I have the most problem est feet in the entire world. You've heard me talk about them for years. And you know what? It is still true, even for me. You can't just opt out of this one because you don't want it to be true or because it's more difficult. Having shoes that don't gel with or don't enhance your style hurts your wardrobe in a couple of ways. First and again, this is something that is always true, is that we end up wasting a lot of money buying more clothes to solve the wrong problem. More cute tops isn't going to fix your shoes. It just adds to the closet noise and the closet chaos. The bigger issue, though, is that when you're buying all the right things and you still don't like the way you look, it reinforces the idea that a lot of women have that they're just not good at this style thing and they just weren't born with the style gene, so they just give up. But you have to realize it's impossible for anyone to be successful when they're trying to solve the wrong problem. So if your shoes are your problem, you're never going to fix it with your tops. So let's wrap up with what to do instead. Instead of just giving up, instead of just settling for your uglies, let's. What are we going to do? All right. The first thing you have to do is wrap your head around the idea that stylish shoes do not have to mean uncomfortable shoes. You've got to divorce those two ideas in your head. Then you have to invest in stylish shoes for the way you really live. A million pairs of uncomfortable shoes you don't wear isn't as valuable, and it won't help your style as much as is one good pair of cute everyday shoes. Now, as with anything, you can invest money or you can invest time, or you can invest both. If you're a person who has cute shoes for times when style quote unquote matters and you default to your version of uglies every day, you have to invest some money in everyday shoes. Now, that doesn't mean you have to spend huge on those everyday shoes. It simply means you have to allocate some of your wardrobe dollars to that category instead of treating it like an afterthought. Now, I would make the argument that these are the shoes you should spend the most on, but that's a topic for another day. We will get there. Now, if you're somebody who doesn't have stylish shoes because of your tricky problem feet, you may need to also invest some time as a person with problem feet. I can tell you there is a solution out there. You just have to make the effort to find it. There are sandals that accommodate custom orthotics and ballet flats made for women with bunions. There are high heels designed by orthopedic surgeons. It might take a little bit of time to find those things, and let's face it, they will be more expensive. They just will. But it is worth it if you want your style to come together. Finally, make it a point to incorporate your shoes into your outfits. I like to challenge our Style Circle members to pick their shoes first and then create the outfit around them. If you don't want to do that, at least think about which of your shoes would look best with your outfit. And this is something that we often do when we dress up, right? We do the little flamingo thing, this one or that one. But a lot of us just slide our feet into default shoes by the door for everyday life. It takes almost no time to just give your shoes a second thought and it might be the tweak that your outfit needs to get the style that you want. All right, that is all for today's summer shorts. I hope this episode encourages you to consider your whole outfit from head to toe and and maybe even give your shoe game a little bit of a boost. Remember, shoes define your style every day, whether you want them to or not, and your everyday matters. So get dressed for it. Thanks for listening and I'll see you next time.
- [08:22]
Jennifer McUmary
And that's a wrap. Thank you for listening today. If you're loving the Everyday Style School podcast, I'd like to invite you to become a member of the Style Circle. It's our monthly all access membership that.
- [08:33]
Co-host
Gives you everything we create to make.
- [08:35]
Jennifer McUmary
Style easy so you can save time and money, have easier mornings and more confidence all day long. You get our seasonal capsule wardrobe guides, all of the masterclasses we offer, and our exclusive members only podcast, the Everyday.
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Co-host
Style School Extra credit. Plus you're invited to the Facebook community where you can get even more style support and inspiration.
- [08:56]
Jennifer McUmary
I would love to love to get.
- [08:57]
Co-host
To know you and support your style journey.
- [08:59]
Jennifer McUmary
It's just $19 a month less than the cost of a clearance shirt you're.
- [09:03]
Co-host
Never going to wear.
- [09:04]
Jennifer McUmary
Come join me and make your everyday style easier.