Let’s face it, except for the lucky folks who work in creative agencies, entertainment or less formal companies, your office wardrobe in Nigeria can very quickly become monotonous. Especially as there are “expectations” to what colour, style or type of clothing to wear.
Footwear is not left out, as by default, most office workers prefer to go for neutrals aka bland (I dare you to deny more than 70% of your work shoes are black, navy blue or brown :D).
However, with the right approach, you can add a splash of colour to your work wardrobe by wearing coloured work shoes and still pull off a corporate and professional look. Here are a few tips:
- Keep it simple
When you opt to wear coloured work shoes, it is a good idea to keep it very simple. It’s best to wear plain or subtly patterned shoes versus heavily adorned or bejeweled types, which will only make you stand out in an uncomfortable and tacky manner.
This orange number by Pleaser balances the loud colour with a classic, plain look to ensure you don’t call undue attention.
- If your shoes are loud, everything else must be muted
You wouldn’t want to be the office clown now, would you? When you opt for coloured work shoes, it’s a good idea to keep everything else a nice, muted shade. I actually recommend going mono if you can – so, you can wear your orange or yellow or teal blue pumps on an all-black or all-brown outfit. If you must add any additional colour, it should be minimal (e.g a belt or a brooch) and try to keep it within the same colour family as your coloured shoes.
- Be yourself
As with every other style statement, you must be sure to be yourself, rather than go to the extreme because you want to rock a trend. If you are not comfortable wearing loud colours, you will be uncomfortable and folks will notice. Instead, explore colours that are still alive yet muted shades. Thus, rather than choose a bright red pair of shoes, you may opt to go for a darker red or burgundy similar to the Dexflex Wedge Pumps below, which is still striking without being loud.
- Nudes are a good compromise
Nude shades such as taupe, beige and blush are a good compromise between the more traditional black, brown, navy and coloured pumps. Thus, you can invest in a pair or two such as the Nine West Open-toe Pumps below, which can help add that interesting yet understated dash of colour to your office look.
- Understand the culture of your workplace
I can’t end this post without a word of advise – before you launch out in your rainbow footwear glory, step back and take stock of the kind of company you work in. For certain professions (e.g. Law), the rules are pretty rigid. Thus, you may not be able to wear colours of any kind – even nudes. In some Nigerian banks, as well, it s strictly Brown, Black and Navy shoes allowed. However, the good news is that more companies are loosening up a bit, so you should be able to get more expressive with your workplace footwear.
So, there you have our tips for pulling off coloured shoes for work. Do you have any of your own to share? Let us know in the Comments section below!