The Only 5 Shoes You Actually Need (Shoe Collection & Styling)

You only need five shoes in your shoe wardrobe. From your skirts and your dresses to your trousers and jeans, all of the outfits you put together with these pieces will work with one of these five shoe options. I've done a lot of experimenting with my shoes over the years because I'm always trying to find a shoe that will look really cute with the outfit I'm wearing, but also be able to accommodate all of the walking that I do. I've done the experimenting with styling with shoe options, so if I were to build my shoe wardrobe again, these are the only five that I would need. At the end, I'll also throw in some nice-to-haves and also some shoe regrets that I wouldn't do again. Let's start with the essential shoe. If I were to only have one pair of shoes, it would probably be a Mary Jane. I think this shoe really does it all. Not only does it look good with skirts and dresses, it also looks really good with like an ankle 7-8 length pant, which is what I often opt for. When in doubt, this is one of those classic shoe styles that just seems to cover all bases. Within a Mary Jane, I've experimented with some different styles and I want to break down what I would be looking for. If you don't do much walking and you want an elegant shoe for every day, something that's still comfortable for light walking, it's gonna look really good and polished in outfits, I would do something like this. These are the Corel Paris shoes that were on my wishlist for years and they're still, in my eye, like a really stunning option. They just add this like ladylike, very elegant, polished feeling to even the most simple of outfits. Because that shoe was so popular, almost every brand does a version of this shoe now. I've seen it at Baird Footwear and it's stunning. I've seen it in person, I've even tried it on, I think. And I've also seen a bunch of options on Nordstrom of different silhouettes, very similar. One step up from that comfort-wise, like a flat Mary Jane. These are mine from Everlane, but I've also seen this pair from Baird Footwear that I think is really really stunning in this olive shade. So what I like about this shoe is that it's flat, it's comfortable, you can walk in it, but it also has a daintiness to it. So if you feel like you don't like your shoes chunky and to feel quite heavy, you like daintier, kind of more tapered, clean lines, this is the shoe. The green one looks even daintier, more elegant, because it has the thinner strap. But regardless, it's kind of simple Mary Jane. Just adds a lightness to any outfit you're gonna style with this shoe. The idea is that we're only gonna have one option in each category, but I'm showing you a few options because you want to choose the right one for your style and how supportive you need your shoe to be. So in this category, the one essential shoe for me would be this Mary Jane. Now this is a very chunky, kind of workwear inspired version of a Mary Jane, but it's got the sole that will support the amount of walking I do. The rubber sole extends out from the front, so it's a lot more hard-wearing. If you're clumsy like me and you kind of kick this on the floor as you're walking or you knock it against stuff, this shoe will hold up. The other shoes are likely to get a bit more scuffed and scratched. This Mary Jane is from Cleman and it's very, very, very similar to the Cezanne Mary Janes I have. Very similar in my opinion. Because I like the Cezanne Mary Jane so much, it kind of got me digging. And I realized this style of shoe is very popular with a lot of French brands and it's definitely inspired by some heritage workwear shoes from the 40s and 50s. But also styling wise, I just think the chunkier shoe looks really good with a lot of skirts and dresses. Sometimes I feel like skirts and dresses can feel just like too put together, too feminine for my liking. And this shoe is that perfect thing to offset it a little bit. Throughout this video, I have screenshots of different shoes as I speak about them. All of these are just things I found with really good reviews online and I'll link to them down below if there's something you wanted to check out. Like a lot of people, I really, really love in my wardrobe a black loafer. And let me tell you, I have done so many hikes, climbed so many mountains I wasn't expecting to while wearing just loafers. Because when you choose the right one that fits and that is supportive in this design, it can really be that comfortable everyday shoe. Back when I started wearing loafers, I would opt for more fashion styles with slightly thinner soles. They taper a little bit. They feel very elegant as a shape, but they didn't quite accommodate that kind of walking. Then I got these Tod's loafers. This would have been like four, five, probably four years ago. And these have a slightly chunkier sole. These are slightly wider in fit and they're just incredibly, incredibly comfortable. One of my most comfortable shoes. With this style of loafer, there are honestly so many brands, so many styles. If I were to do it again and I wanted like a designer style loafer, I would probably go for the Tod's loafer without the logo. And then there are so many alternative options to designer as well. I do like these GH Bass ones. I think you cannot go more timeless than this style. I feel like by definition, a loafer is like a slip-on style, but I'm going to kind of adapt this one a bit. Instead of the loafer, if I could only choose one shoe at the moment, I would actually choose like a black lace-up shoe that functions in styling like a loafer. It'll go with all the same outfits, but it's just got that lace-up detail because I found a few shoes here that have an added layer of comfort and support. By far, my most worn shoe right now are these Marcus loafers from Cezanne. These are the shoes I took traveling with me when I went to China early in the year. Got to the top of a mountain lookout in these. Did multiple hikes in these. Never had any pain with this comfort either. And these have just passed the comfort test time and time again. But I also like them styling-wise. I think they definitely have that like school shoe, workwear shoe inspiration to them. With the feminine outfits, it feels chic to me. I have found these Cezanne shoes to be very durable, very comfortable. The only thing I'll say is that Cezanne is not a shoe brand. So while I feel like they do a really good job on their shoes, if you want the best craftsmanship, the best quality, you are better off going to shoe brands. I've fallen down the shoe rabbit hole lately, so I also found these Clemen shoes that look very, very similar. And the difference is a few things. The Cezanne ones are much chunkier. I think they're a bit more fashionable because of the chunkiness. The Clemen ones are a little bit more subtle in the design. The heel is less chunky. The details are a bit more subtle. And the details are mostly in stitching and craftsmanship over major design. While these shoes look very different in style and silhouette and everything when I hold them up, but they're very similar in the way that I would style them. So I don't feel like I need both. The first shoe option is a slightly prettier shoe because I know I've shown a lot of like chunky, heavy options. I would have as a part of my core shoe wardrobe, a pair of daintier sandals that could dress up an outfit. Or it can balance a very oversized, heavy looking outfit. When you want something chic and minimal and just very stylish, this is the kind of shoe I would go for. If you're gonna go for one, I would look for something with a few more straps. Maybe a strap around the back like this one. So it kind of holds your foot in a little bit better. There's nothing like trying to grip onto your shoes that have like one tiny strap to hold everything in. I really love the design of those shoes, but I really just can't wear them as often as I want to because I just get really tired in them very quickly. So this is my compromise and this is my pick for this section. I really like these mules. What I like about them is that they cover more of your foot, so your foot feels very secure and held in in the shoe. You don't slip forward or move around in the shoe too much and that alone makes your foot kind of work a little bit less hard and it becomes more comfortable. It's not quite as dainty or as minimal as the other design, but it's a much more comfortable option. I feel like shoes are all about compromise for me and for me this is both sleeker but also comfortable enough. In this pattern, harder leather. This definitely requires a break in though, so it probably took three or four wears for it to soften enough for it to be comfortable and that's just because of the leather choice I made. If you go for a softer more pliable non-patent leather, it's going to be more comfortable from the start. Next shoe is a classic black chelsea boot. If I made this video any time in the past, this would have been at the very top of my list immediately an essential, but because I showed you the loafers and the lace-up shoes from before, if I wear it with like a sock, it almost takes me from kind of summer into winter. But for my black boots, I have these RM Williams slip-on boots, a very iconic Australian brand and these are just like incredible in quality. They have a nice heel to them. I feel like boots are essential if you wear a lot of jeans and trousers. There is no other pairing that looks as seamless as like an ankle boot with like a tapered shaft and a straight leg jean. They're actually just a perfect match together. So if you wear a lot of denim, I would say a black boot is an absolute essential. If you don't wear denim, if you wear mostly skirts and dresses, I honestly feel like I can do without my black boots because it's so much more flattering when I wear skirts and dresses with like a sock and a loafer because it hugs that ankle area. It creates more definition than like a black boot because of the wider shaft. I also feel like ankle boots can sometimes cut off at a weird place when I wear it with skirts and dresses. Even if you were to go for a higher boot, it can sometimes look cleaner compared to the ankle boot. If you do wear a lot of skirts and dresses, something I noticed is that the thing that makes the biggest difference is how wide that shaft is. So I'll definitely avoid anything with super wide shafts. Instead, I might even do like a lace-up boot and the benefit of this style is that you're able to pull the laces really tight and have a little bit more definition around the ankle which I think suits the skirts and dresses a lot more and feel more balanced. The final option, we're finally on to the sneaker. About five to six years ago, I was really obsessed with New Balance when they made their comeback and I really loved that they were more suited for wider feet and they just felt really comfortable. This shoe I constantly have out because I wear them to and from the gym, groceries, etc and this is the only sneaker that I'm consistently wearing right now. I wish I had the name but I'll put them up on screen. I think the color palette is really cool, like this gray, black and red combination. Simple but cool. I love the darker color. I feel like it's quite sleek. It has a very wide, cool silhouette. Like I often do get asked about these shoes. Maybe more than anything else I wear. They're very chunky, very wide. So if you wanted something more subtle, if you wanted something not just for the gym and outdoors but also for daily wear, I would say this is a more well-rounded silhouette. Again, all the names are escaping me. I think it's a 574. In a really fun bright blue color. I was obsessed with these four, five years ago and this still sparks joy every time I see this color. This particular silhouette can definitely work, you know, for all the same purposes as the other one. An added bonus is that this also looks good in a lot of outfits without making it too bulky. So with a lot of wide leg kind of prop pants, I really like these. With most trousers to be honest, I think this will work quite nicely. I think your most classic sneaker is probably the white sneaker in these minimalist designs. I've dabbled with these in the past but to be honest, I've never fully been super tied to them because the truth is I've never found a pair that is that comfortable. It's always kind of comfortable but nothing that has wowed me to make me give up like a loafer or to make me change what I opt for. I never find it more comfortable than something like this so I prefer the slightly more formal shoe to the more casual sneaker. I want to say my mum has these black shoes from Skechers. I'm not talking about the particular shoe, I think you can do better in terms of design but I actually feel like this type of black sneaker can go with a lot of outfits. I've seen her wear this with different skirts and dresses and dare I say, I think it looks quite good. Maybe it's a trend thing, maybe it is just what I like but I do prefer the black sneaker to the white sneaker personally at least at the moment what I'm drawn to. Okay and finally, a couple of honourable mentions. I've pretty much shown you my entire shoe collection and honourable mentions as well as mistakes that I wouldn't do again. Honourable mention is that I would have a pair of shoes that are fancier to wear for weddings and for events. You know the sandals I showed earlier, they could function as that event shoe as well. It is nice to have a proper fancy shoe. These are from Baird Footwear and to this day I've never worked with them. I have purchased everything myself. I just want to mention that because I talk about them endlessly. These are satin, it's got a bit of a lace accent. I've worn these the last three or four weddings I've been to and they're holding up great. I may have also worn them for one night out, I can't remember but it's that formal shoe I own. It is a satin but it's not actually a satin. It's like a hard wearing version of it as opposed to something too delicate and I've kicked these shoes on different surfaces and they've somehow been fine. Another nice to have is a pair of summer sandals and the reason I put these as a nice to have rather than an essential is that, I don't know, they're not as comfortable as some other shoes I own because they're so flat. It's impossible for them to be super super supportive. I also feel like style-wise I just kind of prefer So my honest truth is these are technically an essential but not really for me as I prefer other things. I'm talking about the sandal in general but of the sandals, my absolute favorite are these Sazam ones. I think the texture is very very cool. Things like white outfit, white dress, white skirt, white t-shirt with these shoes and it instantly just makes it cooler. I think you've seen my entire shoe collection at this point but a pair of shoes I'm trying to sell because they're quite new but I don't really get along with them are these barefoot wear shoes. These are chunkier sandals and I think that I'm a little bit over the chunkier sandal because they have a certain heaviness in my outfit compared to like a chunky loafer. The chunky loafer gives more lift. It feels like I'm slightly off the ground. Sometimes it tapers a bit more at the front. It just feels a little bit more stylish whereas these feel a bit more clunky. So see the black shoes, they kind of taper slightly. I don't want like an uncomfortable like my toes squished situation but just a gentle kind of taper is all I need. I don't think I would do chunky sandals again anytime soon at least especially when the chunkiness is in the strap design. So if you see that strap design, it's very very bulky through the center, through the sides. There's a lot going on and this shoe is just not the most flattering to be honest. Something else I wouldn't buy anymore are also backless loafers. They're just kind of one of those in-between shoes. I never know when to wear them. I kind of forget about them in the transitional season. They don't offer me anything extra that like a non-backless loafer doesn't do. So I can never find a reason to want to wear them. I don't think I'll ever get like a backless loafer again unless it was like a very particular design that made it extra special. I'd love to know for your lifestyle, for your personal style, what kind of shoes are in your essentials? What is in your capsule shoe collection if you will? Share with me down below. Thank you so much for watching this video. I hope you enjoyed it and it was helpful and I'll see you next time. Bye!