Styling White Shoes

December 12, 2024

There are a number of items of clothing in your wardrobe that just define what essential summer wear looks like, and one of these is a pair of white shoes. This colour of footwear has proved a hit with people of all ages, with varying tastes, preferences, and requirements – but it’s not always that easy to know what to pair your white shoes with to really make them ‘pop’ and look as great as they should.

This article is here to help with that problem! We’re going to address the burning question that is “what do white shoes go with?”, and look at the different styles of footwear available and the occasions that you’re likely to want to wear them too.

What Goes with White Shoes?

Trying to discuss what matches white shoes could cover an entire book! So, we’re going to keep it simple and look at the different styles of footwear available and hopefully inspire you to create your own beautiful outfits including your very own pair. To make this easier, we’ve broken this down into a men’s section and a women’s section.

Men’s Styles

Canvas Shoe

Men’s white canvas shoes are a really versatile style of footwear, and a great option for so many occasions. Let’s look at what items in your wardrobe will look great with your pair for both smart & casual occasions:

Smart

Canvas shoes can in fact be a great addition to a smart outfit, whether it’s a summer outdoor wedding, or a family member’s birthday party, if you know how to pair the shoes with a smart outfit then you will pull it off and look great. Here’s what we recommend:

Grey or tan trousers (fitted, not loose).
White shirt.
White polo shirt (for a less formal option).
Blazer (select a colour to match the trousers).
Waistcoast (select a colour to match the trousers).
Grey flatcap.
Bowtie/Necktie (light colours only).

Casual

Canvas shoes are more commonly paired with casual clothing items, so let’s look at this option:

Jeans (black/blue/grey).
Chinos (tan/pastel colours)
T-shirt (lighter colours are best).
Hoody/Jumper (lighter colours are best).
Jean shorts (black/blue/grey)
Chino shorts (tan/pastel colours)
Tracksuit bottoms (any colour)
Tracksuit bottom shorts (any colour)

As you can see, men’s canvas shoes can be paired with a huge number of items from your wardrobe. For men wondering what white shoes to wear with jeans, these are your best option.

Trainers

Your white trainers should be reserved exclusively for casual wear. This isn’t as restrictive as it sounds though, as you can pick any items from the list above (casual canvas shoes) to pair with your footwear. As you can tell, you won’t be limited in finding what colour matches your white shoes – although we recommend keeping towards lighter colours for the canvas shoes, you can make your white trainers stand out and look great by contrasting them with darker colours.

Women’s Styles

There are a few more categories to this section as there were above, to no surprise! So, let’s begin.

High Heels

Here’s what to wear with white high heels:

White dress (of any length).
White trousers.
Coloured dress with white features (any colour, features can be stripes, dots, seams etc.).
White blouse (can be paired with a dark blazer).
White blazer (can be paired with white trousers and a dark top).
White accessories.
White skirt (with matching white, or contrasting dark top)

High heels are your best option if you’re looking to pair white shoes with a black dress, as long as you pair the shoes with white accessories.

Flats

This is another smart style, however, this is the more comfortable style. Here are your best options:

White jeans (with a smart blouse of any colour).
White summer dress.
Dark skirt (with white top).
Smart white dress (with dark belt and accessories).
Chinos (tan, white, dark – with white top).
White blazer
White blouse

Flats are your best choice if you want to pair white shoes with chinos.

Trainers

This is your super casual and comfortable option. We would create a list for this style of footwear but it would be far too long! You can wear almost anything with white ladies trainers, even with colours that we wouldn’t recommend with other styles, for example, if you want to wear white shoes with black trousers for a casual look then we recommend sticking to trainers because this can complement the style of the shoe.

We recommend avoiding pairing your white trainers with smart attire, as this will look unusual and these two styles won’t complement each other.

Canvas Shoes

This is a more casual style but with the right outfit they can be worn to a smart-casual occasion:

Chinos (light colours – however you can pair a dark pair with a white top).
White jeans.
Tan trousers (look great with a white top/jumper).
Pastel colours for t-shirts/jumpers.
White accessories.

Women’s white canvas shoes are ideal if you want to pair white shoes with jeans.

When to Wear White Shoes

There are so many opportunities for you to pull your favourite pair of shoes out of the wardrobe, but knowing where and when you can wear white shoes is important to make sure they suit the occasion. So, let’s look at what occasions suit white shoes and what styles of footwear are best.

On Holiday

This is THE best time to grab your white shoes. If you’re walking on the beach then opt for a white sandal, or if you’re venturing into the local town then pick white trainers or canvas shoes to keep your feet comfortable. For women, you can grab your white flats or white high heels for the night time, whether you’re going for a meal or a few drinks at the hotel bar; and for men, you can opt for white brogues or white leather if you’re daring. When you’re on holiday, white shoes are always acceptable.

At Work

Summer is the ideal time to start wearing white shoes in the office. You can pair with a light skirt or dress to make the shoes look great. The best style of shoes to pick from for women includes high heels, smart flat shoes or even stylish white shoes for women. However, if you’re wearing white heels in the winter and you don’t want your footwear to stand out too much, try to blend your footwear in with grey trousers and a white top. It’s more difficult for men to pull off white shoes in the office, but if you believe that you can achieve this look without breaking the rules then why not!

Nights Out

This is the true test of fashion. For this, it’s important to know when white shoes are in season, this is during the warmer months of summer and spring. However, although there is an unspoken ‘white shoe rule’ that spring and summer are when this colour of shoe should be worn, we believe that if you can pull them off with your outfit then you can wear them whenever you please!

When Not to Wear White Shoes

Trying to answer when white shoes can be worn would take far too long, so let’s look at when to avoid them:

Funerals
Festivals
Wet weather (you can wear white shoes in the rain but this increases the risk of ruining your pair)

Why Choose White Shoes?

So, with all of the possible fashion faux pas’ surrounding this type of footwear, why should you wear white shoes? The simple answer is this: because they look great! There’s a reason why white shoes are so popular and that’s because they complement so many outfit choices and can really show off your style.

It’s important to know when to wear white shoes and when to avoid them, but the good news is that white shoes are in style in 2017 in a big way so there won’t be many places where they won’t look great!

So, there you have it. Hopefully, by now you have a better idea of what goes with white shoes for guys and girls for all occasions. Now, if you’re trying to decide “what white shoes should I get?” while you’re perusing the shops then follow this advice; think about when you plan to wear them and what clothes you own that will complement them. One final thought; you’re likely to hear over and over that white shoes can only be worn at certain times, but let us tell you this…deciding when white shoes are ok to wear is up to you and only you, if you’re comfortable wearing them year-round then that’s what you should do!

Check out the shoezone blog for more style tips and footwear suggestions for every occasion.