What Color Shoes to Wear with Different Colors of Pants
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Reader S wonders about what color shoes to wear with different colors of pants…
Could you do a story on what color shoes to wear with different color pants? I never know if I should find shoes that match the color of the pant, the color of the shirt, black or something else.
Interesting. I've seen a handy-dandy guide for men on Pinterest, but I don't know if I've seen one for women. In general, I'd say that the question also depends on the kind of pants — which color shoes you choose to wear with ankle pants or straight pants matters much less because there's a stretch of skin; it isn't a seamless look; on the other hand for a full-length trouser that is closer to the floor (generally a wide leg, flare, or bootcut style) you're going to get a leg-lengthening effect if you choose the same color shoe and continue the line. My own breakdown would probably go like this:
Picture credit: Shutterstock/ Maram.
What Color Shoes to Wear with Black Pants
I'd wear pretty much any color shoes with black pants, but my default would be either black shoes or colorful shoes — I think nude-for-you shoes might look odd unless they're ankle pants, but that's me.
Hunting for comfortable work heels? We've got a whole guide just for that, but as of 2025 some of our favorites include Marc Fisher LTD, Sam Edelman, M.M.LaFleur, and Cole Haan. On the pricier side, check out Ferragamo, Stuart Weitzman, and Sarah Flint. For comfort-first styles, look to Vionic, Sofft, and Naturalizer.
What Color Shoes to Wear with Navy Pants
Black, purple, navy, red, or gray would probably be my default — I'm just not really a person who wears brown shoes. “Cordovan” is a reddish brown that is always said to go well with navy; it can be a bit tricky to find for women.
I've always heard that for men, “black dresses navy up; brown dresses navy down,” so if you have caramel/tan/beige/brown shoes and want to wear them with navy, keep that in mind.
With a navy skirt I wouldn't think twice about wearing nude-for-you or tan heels, but when it's bare leg/pantyhose season I always think nude-for-you heels look good.
We've talked before about what color tights to wear with navy skirts.
Navy Shoes for The Office
Stay tuned for our latest favorite navy shoes for work!
Red Office Heels
Red is a very trendy color for 2024! Some great classic options for heels include Calvin Klein, Sam Edelman, and Easy Spirit. For flats check Rothy's or Vivaia (or these great Paul Green flats!). Some of our latest favorite red heels for work include…
Purple Heels for the Office
I've always loved purple heels because they're a great pop of color against navy — they're just a bit more fun than a gray or black.
2024 Update: Here are our latest favorite purple heels for the office — check out all of our favorite heels here!!
Sangria-Colored Heels for Work Pants
I've always thought of purple heels as winey, sangria-colored heels — but readers have pointed out that a lot of times purple heels are a bit brighter than wine-colored heels. If this makes a difference to you, here are some of our latest favorite sangria-colored heels for work…
Stay tuned for our latest favorite winey, sangria-colored heels for work!
What Color Shoes to Wear with Gray Pants
I'd wear pretty much any color shoe with gray pants, and I probably have. If you pick black it's a no-brainer; if you pick gray it elongates the line; if you pick any other color you can have fun with colors that compliment/contrast with other parts of your outfit.
(I'm often a fan of wearing, for example, purple pumps with a red accent because it's a very subtle way to have fun with color.)
If you're looking for a few “fun shoes” to buy to expand beyond basic black, I always like purple shoes, but a jewel tone like red, emerald, or cobalt can be a great pop of color.
Some of our latest fun shoes for professional women include these options that we've featured recently… also note that readers have always loved Fluevog shoes; you may also want to check out brands like Sarah Flint and Jeffrey Campbell.
(We've also talked in general about which colors to wear with gray suits, including for shoes.)
What Toe Shape Is Best To Wear with Dress Pants?
Round toed-flats are almost never the right choice to wear if you want something sleek and sophisticated — but they tend to look particularly bad with full-length pants.
Instead, go for pointy-toed options…
Some of our latest favorite pointy-toed shoes include these options (as of 2024):
Or go for square-toed options…
Other Thoughts on What Color Shoes to Wear With Different Colors of Pants, Pants Colors, and Shoe/Pant Choices for Work Outfits
In the abstract, other strong opinions that come up when I think about shoes and pants
White Shoes for the Office
I'm not crazy about stark white shoes with pants. Maaaaybe with white pants in the summer.
Metallic Shoes for Work Outfits
Here are some of our latest favorite metallic shoes for work (both in heels and flats, since flats are so much more omnipresent with work outfits today…)
I haven't always been a fan of metallic shoes for work outfits, but we're starting to see more nad more of them, and a lot of them feel a lot more subdued than the mirror-like sky high stilettos of a few years ago.
Strappy Flats and Heels
I'm all for wearing strappy shoes with pants (much more comfortable, and a full length trouser hides whatever ugly things the straps do to your legs)
Stylish strappy flats can be hard to find! As of 2025, these are some of our favorites — also, in general, check J.Crew, Boden, Jennifer Chamandi, Manolo Blahnik, and Valentino (on the pricier side, obviously). Nordstrom also has a surprisingly large selection!
How to Maintain Hem Height On Your Commute
Hem your pants for the shoes you intend to wear with them! I've often found that a pant that's hemmed for flats also looks good with a kitten heel or small wedge heel; on the flip side, if you want to wear 3″ heels with your pants at work but want something more comfortable for commuting, lots of “comfort” brands have stacked/wedge options that will maintain the hem height so your pants don't drag on the floor, but be farrrrr more comfortable for your commute.
If you're hunting for commuting heels, as of 2025 we'd recommend brands like FLY London, Dansko, Eileen Fisher, Børn and Miz Mooz. These help you maintain height for pants hemmed for heels — but with more comfortable shoes for your commute.
Another option: wedge sneakers.
Finally: Watch the Details
I'm opposed to shoes that have details that are going to snag on your pants, such as rockstuds. If you've got a pair of shoes with bows on them, you may find that they look adorable with ankle pants but affect the way a full length trouser “falls” when you walk.
(Check out our Guide to Comfortable Heels for a lot of other brand suggestions and tips.)
Readers, what are your thoughts? Have you ever struggled to pick out shoes to wear with your pants? What are your best tips on what color shoes to wear with different colors of pants? What rules do you follow? Which pair of shoes do you own that gets worn the most with pants? 
Is the style of the Nisolo Smoking Shoes still current?
I should mention, pointed toe shoes almost never work for my feet, which is why I’m interested in these.
I tried them, but they looked frumpy on me, I think because they were too round.
I sure hope so. I just bought some shoes in a similar style. Cannot wait to wear them this fall. They are so comfortable.
What shoes did you buy, and how does the price compare?
I’m fairly comfortable with pants, but I would love to see a similar discussion about tights. I’m never sure about a professional look with any shoes except those that match the tights exactly (so, black or dark brown), and I get tired of wearing the same black shoes all the darn time in winter.
With navy skirts, sheer navy hose looks good with gray shoes, though any snags will show quickly!
Note on “strappy” shoes – I don’t think Kat uses the term the same way most people do. When I hear “strappy” I think of complete party shoes, not, for example, a t-strap pump that has a strap.
+1! Or even how to mix the colored tights themselves with dresses / skirts. I default to black.
+1 I used to wear colored tights in my workplace (business casual), but stopped because I thought they made me look a bit juvenile.
I tend to match my skirt / pant with my tights, with a pop of color with my shoe. I wear heels. I use a minimalist color palate. Black or grey or navy (rarely burgundy) skirt + tights, pop of contrast color with shoe. For commuting, boots or booties, and change shoe at the office. I also have suede black and burgundy booties that I wear a lot.
I wear colored tights (purple, royal blue, olive, burgandy, mustard) on the regular. A rule of thumb I use is the rest of the outfit is fairly plain. Like a black dress with purple tights. Or an olive pencil skirt and grey blouse with mustard tights. But I think my style is a bit edgier than many ladies on here, so ymmv.
I, too, love colored tights and usually opt to keep the rest of my colors more low key on bright legs days. In my head I’m the corporate version of Penelope Garcia…used to feel like I pushed the envelope too much for my sedate office, but have been complemented often enough by people at all levels of my organization on my “sense of style” (ha!) that I’m more comfortable dressing in outfits that make me happy. It probably helps that I have a very good reputation for being very good at my job. If I was mediocre or a slacker, I bet I would get sideeye fir my quirky dressing rather than kudos for it.
Oh autocorrect, how I love you.
I posted on the earlier thread but am hoping to get more comments on the afternoon discussion. Am on Day 3 of an Intermittent Fasting plan (following Jason Fung’s book, The Obesity Code). Any tips, tricks, suggestions, inspiration, encouragement?
Please keep us posted — I’ve loosely been doing intermittent fasting and thinking I should probably step it up.
I’m really interested to hear how your plan goes.
You may have to play with your schedule some to figure out what works best for you. Fasting days worked better for me when I was going to be busy doing a lot of different tasks. For days where I needed to concentrate for long periods and do deep work, I needed to eat regularly.
Yes! I’m editing briefs all day today which was very poor timing, as I’m hungry and missing my usual snack breaks. Ugh.
For me part of it was the “break” not the snack that I was missing. If you don’t have a reason to break, then you tend to keep working when you would usually get a chance to stop and rest your brain. So I found it helped if, at the time I would usually take a break to eat something, I still take a break and drink some ice water or a decaf coffee (my fasting plan allowed water and black coffee) and either sit down to drink it or go outside for a minute… make it a real break.
You can do it! The reddit page is really excellent for tips and support. I found the first few days a little tough but after that I haven’t looked back and now I’m not even really hungry until 2 pm or so. It works so well, just stick with it and you’ll notice big changes within 2 weeks.
I don’t like wearing pants (I’m pretty much a skirt/dress girl) but I would love to know who makes the blue suede peep toes in the stock photo…
Shoes are my biggest challenge to dressing professionally. There are so many variables, and none of them are very intuitive to me. I can tell when something is off, but fixing it is another thing entirely. Couple that with prioritizing comfort over everything else and having a foot that’s hard to fit — yeah, I absolutely hate shoe shopping, and it shows.
I’m in the same boat. Totally stuck with comfortable black wedges…
+1 I have three pairs of work shoes that I rotate. All have been in need of replacing for several months now. Can’t find anything I like that fits.
This summer I wore white Boden loafers with silver detail with everything, almost every day. I wear a lot of black so the shoes made my outfits feel summery. I also think gold and silver shoes are neutral.
What color pants can I wear with these booties? (link to follow)
http://www.colehaan.com/hayes-flat-bootie-40mm-java-leather/W05363.html
I have the java color
Those are nice shoes but I think those shoes are hard to wear with dress pants. If you do, I would go for navy and stay away from black or grey. I think they also would look cute with a navy or olive green skirt and tights.
I am looking for a grey pair of pumps but am having trouble finding them. The ones I see tend to be more greige (greyish beige). Any ideas?
I had the exact same question here a year or two ago and bought (and love) these – https://www.trotters.com/product/Dark%20Grey/Alexandra. Do note though that I bought two sizes, and they were slightly different shades of grey – one was definitely more on the grey side.
And by that last grey I meant greige.
I am not allowed to wear pant’s at work, but wear skinny jeans on the weekends (and on Friday’s when the manageing partner is not there). I have 4″ heels that make me look taller (and svelter), as well as some nice leopard look pumps that I wear with jeans, as well as booties. Dad says I have almost as many pair of shoe’s as Jackie O’Nassis, so I guess I am in good company, as she was MARRIED to the President of the USA. I wish I was so lucky! I can not even get a guy to seriusly date me! FOOEY!
What kind of workplace dictates that you can’t wear pants?
I usually stick with black shoes of many different styles. Their just easier to style with my pieces. Nude is a little tough for me because it’s usually too light for my skin tone.
Great! thank you so much for sharing this
Oh my goodness! I’m so glad i found your article. I’ve been googling and pinteresting and you name it for about 4 hours trying to find soemthing like this on womens fashion. Everything is about men, and cordovan – which is a color taht is apparently not made for women?! That is the color i really want. I’ve always admired man-inspired fashion and now that it’s a trendy, i can but actual Oxfords made for women. What a wonderful world, and thanks for all the wonderful and helpful tips in your article.
Why are there not more like this?