Women's Evening Shoes Guide

One of the reasons a lot of women aren't happy with their dressiest outfits is the shoes they choose. Evening shoes are special-occasion shoes: if you are dressed specially for an evening out, the shoes have to be special too. A beautiful gown over ordinary daytime shoes reads as an afterthought, because the eye drops to the hem and finds the outfit unfinished.

This guide covers the formal footwear itself — which styles count as evening shoes, which materials and trims make them so, and how to choose colour and heel for the gown, the venue and your own stamina. The gown side of the outfit lives in our evening gowns guide.

Styles That Count as Evening

An evening shoe is a formal shoe, and it can be had in nearly every style that dress and casual shoes come in: pumps, slingbacks, mules, sandals, kitten heels, T-straps, ankle straps and even flats. It is typically the materials and trim details that make a shoe appropriate for evening wear — not the silhouette alone. The same pump in matte workday leather is a dress shoe; in satin with a crystal buckle, it is unmistakably an evening shoe.

That distinction is the honest answer to whether evening shoes and dress shoes are the same. A dress shoe is worn at smart-casual or more formal events and serves many people as a standard daily shoe; evening shoes are a narrower, more decorated subset, made for parties, dances and special occasions. Dress shoes can be worn as evening shoes — but depending on who you ask, they are not exactly the same thing.

Materials, Embellishment and Colour

Evening materials catch candlelight: satin and silk (which can be dyed to match a dress exactly), velvet, patent leather, metallic leather in gold, silver and bronze, and fine glitter or beaded finishes. Embellishment — crystal buckles, bows, feathers, jewelled straps — does the same job as jewellery, and the prettiest evening shoes treat it with the same restraint: one focal detail, beautifully made.

Colour follows the outfit. Evening shoes may match the colour of the gown, dress or suit being worn, or contrast with it depending on the occasion and what your closet offers; as a general rule, base the shoe colour on the outfit. And when in doubt, black is a fantastic colour for evening shoes — the little black dress of the footwear universe: it goes with nearly everything, never fights the dress, and always looks deliberate.

Comfort Is Not Optional

Don't forget about comfort: an evening is four to six hours of standing, walking and possibly dancing, much of it on hard floors. A slightly lower heel you can forget about beats a skyscraper you think about all night — kitten heels and elegant flats exist precisely for this. Gel pads, a strap that actually holds the heel, and breaking the shoes in at home before the event are the difference between dancing and watching.

Between wears, keep evening shoes in their bags, away from the shoe pile: satin crushes, crystals snag, and metallic finishes scuff. Stuff the toes, store straps unbuckled, and wipe satin with a dry cloth only. A beautiful evening shoe kept properly lasts a decade of events; kept badly, it lasts one wedding.

The Colour Question

What is the best colour for evening shoes? Evening shoes may match the colour of the gown, dress or suit being worn, or they can be a contrasting colour depending on the occasion and the options available in your closet. As with any shoes, the general rule of thumb is that the colour of your evening shoes should be based on the colour of the outfit you are wearing. By the way, black is a fantastic colour for evening shoes; it is sort of the little black dress of the footwear universe. And are evening shoes the same as dress shoes? An evening shoe would be considered a formal shoe; a dress shoe is a shoe to be worn at smart casual or more formal events, widely used in dance, for parties and for special occasions, and worn by many as a standard daily shoe. Although dress shoes can be worn as evening shoes, they are not exactly the same — depending on who you ask. Evening shoes can be had in nearly every style that dress and casual shoes come in, including mules, pumps, sling-backs, sandals, kitten heels, T-straps, ankle straps and even flats; it is typically the materials and trim details that make a shoe more appropriate for evening wear. One last point: don't forget about comfort. Pair them with the right evening gowns and the rest of your eveningwear.

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