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.

These are some of our favorite heels as of 2024, but check out our entire Guide to Comfortable Heels!

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!

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!

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 Kat Maconie 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 2023):

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

2024 Update: It looks like silver shoes are due for a comeback — here are some of our latest favorites:

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 2024, these are some of our favorites — also, in general, check J.Crew 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 2024 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? 

The post What Color Shoes to Wear with Different Colors of Pants appeared first on Corporette.com.

Everyone’s eyebrows shot up when The Wall Street Journal suggested that instead of sweatpants, you should be wearing proper office clothes to work from home.

You may be wondering: what specifically does the WSJ say I should wear to work from home? Is it like comfortable workwear for late nights, the kind of stuff you wear when you suspect you’ll be stuck at the office for hours and hours past your usual quitting time? Comfortable magic pants for work that feel like pajamas but aren’t? Maybe, you think, it’s the kind of stuff that we here at Corporette have suggested you might consider wearing to work on the weekend if you’re supervising people — fleece blazers and jardigans and things. 

We’ve talked a lot about comfortable workwear, as well as how to set up the best home office and (over at CorporetteMoms) we’ve discussed mistakes to avoid when working from home. But we haven’t actually talked about what to wear to work from home, so let’s discuss.

Readers who work from home all or most of the time — what do you wear to work from home? Readers who work from home sometimes, what do you wear to work from home? 

This post contains affiliate links and Corporette® may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. For more details see here. Thank you so much for your support!

{related: how to elevate a simple t-shirt}

As of 2024, some of the best weekend women’s t-shirts include Caslon, Madewell, Amazon Essentials, Fishers Finery, New Day, Rag & Bone, Frame, Three Dots, James Perse, and Velvet.

What I Wear to Work From Home on Solo Days

Even though we have a small team at Corporette (me, Kate, April at CorporetteMoms, and a few others for occasional/part-time work), we conduct almost all of our correspondence via Slack, email, or telephone — so it really doesn’t matter what I wear for anyone but myself.

Personally, I don’t notice a huge difference in productivity if I’m “dressed” versus if I’m in, say, workout clothes. As I kind of got into in our discussion on makeup looks for different occasions, my work-from-home look has slightly shifted from when I worked from home occasionally to now, when I work from home all the time:  

When I only worked from home occasionally, this generally meant “no makeup.” When I started working from home all the time, though, I struggled with this a bit because I had read all this stuff about how if you’re working from home you should “get dressed as if you’re going into the office,” and it conflicted with my previous “no makeup” mentality. Even if I had successfully completed a workout, if it was just me, why should I put on makeup?

It all came down to “who am I wearing makeup for anyway”? …

What I’ve settled on lately for ease of application but a bit more polished than absolutely no makeup is sheer lipstick like a Chubby stick, blush, undereye concealer, waterproof eyeliner, and occasionally a liquid shadow. The routine takes me about two minutes, maybe less.

So “looking dressed” for me involves a 2-minute makeup routine and basically weekend wear in terms of clothes — jeans, cords, leggings-as-pants, maybe occasionally a super easy dress. Simple jewelry. No heels.

{related: check out all our work from home tips}

(The only difference with my actual weekend wear is that, during the weekend itself when the kids and I are around each other all day, I may wear more easily washable stuff like fleece tops from Gibson (affiliate link) or actual sweatshirts.)

My daily work from home look is a little bit more relaxed from my “business casual” look when I was a staff attorney at a non profit, but that’s only because my “business casual look” at the time was the more comfortable end of my “conservative law firm attire” — much of what I wear now, I would wear to a business casual office. 

I’ve found I vastly prefer clothes with pockets to work from home — these are some of my favorites.  

You can see more of our What to Wear to Work From Home Hall of Famers at this tag. 

Looking for the most comfortable bras for working from home? These are some of my favorites, as noted in our roundup of the most comfortable bras for working from home: 

Above, the most comfortable bras for working from home: gray / black / white / navy / pink (not pictured, but this and this were reader favorites in 2020)

Prefer to wear actual denim around the house? These are some of our favorite jeans: 

If your work from home includes videoconferencing, think about what will be visible in the video. I know a lot of women who wear “personality glasses” as a way of minimizing makeup needs, and that can include work from home purposes — if you have a big pair of Warby Parkers on and your hair in a bun or otherwise pulled back it’s an acceptably studious look.

I always think a collar looks nice, so consider having a cardigan with a shawl collar, a comfortable blazer somewhere nearby to throw on before your videoconference, or even the crisp collar of a blouse.

A simple necklace goes a long way towards framing your face or finishing your look.

You also want to think about what will be on view behind you, of course — if you’re working from your bedroom, try to angle the camera so it’s not facing your bed or the huge pile of clothes on the chair that you keep meaning to hang up. (Just me?) 

{related: what IS “the Zoom Shirt” for women?}

If your work from home includes supervising others, consider a stricter interpretation of business casual. For example, I’ve heard of some lawyers who are either solo practitioners or the sole firm representative in their city, and they may work in their home with a paralegal or other assistant, either on a daily basis or an occasional basis.

{related: The Ultimate Guide to Business Casual for Women}

Every relationship is different, of course — these tend to be highly personal situations, after all! — but I would urge you to consider being on the more formal side of things.

For example, instead of ripped skinny jean leggings or yoga pants, wear knit ponte pants like NYDJ or the beloved Eileen Fisher magic pants. 

Readers, over to you — what do you wear to work from home? Would you wear the WSJ’s outfit? Do you feel more productive if you’re dressed in business casual for the day? 

Pictured at top and on pin: via Stencil.

The post What to Wear to Work From Home appeared first on Corporette.com.

What are your best tips on how to cut down on printing at home, ladies? One of the main things I miss from working in a big office is the printer and the joy of going through stacks of papers to make edits and changes, take notes, and more. I could do that still, of course, but especially in 2020 as we all try to do better environmentally, it seems wasteful and unnecessary. Indeed, I’ve become downright stingy in what I actually print. So let’s talk about some of the ways to cut down printing at home… 

This post contains affiliate links and Corporette® may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. For more details see here. Thank you so much for your support!

Print Multiple Pages on One

This is handy in two main instances: 1) PowerPoint presentations with lots of white space (or abstract designs) and not a ton of words, and 2) instances when you need to print 8 pages of something for the sake of completeness, but truly only need something on page 1.

This was the case with a ton of my year-end financial statements so when I sent them to my accountant, he got 2 pages on one page. (Sorry, Bradley!)

You can do this from pretty much any program before you send it to your printer, but I often find it easiest to first print the full document to PDF, and then print the PDF with 2 pages per doc; playing around with landscape or portfolio mode may also help make it more readable. More than 2 pages per page is doable but… well… inadvisable.

If you really want to go that route (or you suffer from eye strain in general), you may want to get a magnifying sheet like these to look over smaller text. (I have one that is like a hard sheet of plastic the same size as paper.)

How to Send Lengthy Documents to Kindle

If you have to read lengthy, wordy documents, reading them on a computer monitor can be hard on your eyes. But if you have a friendlier device like the Kindle (this one is my favorite), you can email yourself PDFs, Word documents, and more, and read them on the Kindle using the special Kindle email address that every Kindle owner gets.

Pagination might change from the original document, though, so if you’re working with other people you may want to make sure you have a system in place, such as line numbers.

Cut Down on Printing by Marking Up Documents on an iPad

Sometimes there’s nothing quite so good as a close line edit or otherwise marking up the document itself with arrows and circles and other scribbles — in that case, the iPhone/iPad app Good Notes is one of my favorite solutions to this problem.

It currently costs $7.99 at the app store, and you can send almost any kind of document to the app, which then lets you write directly on top of it, adjusting brushstroke, color, and more. An Apple pencil does help — and for lengthy handwriting you can also get a paper-like screen protector for your iPad — but you can also just use your finger and the regular screen.

A Few More Ideas To Make Do Without the Huge Office Printer/Scanner

• I love the app ScannerPro ($3.99) for making quick PDFs of documents that I want to save to my files or share with others. I mostly use this for kid-related paperwork, but it’s handy to have in general — I send most of my scans directly to Evernote. 
• If you’re the kind of person who loves scribbling billing notes and more on a paper pad in front of you, one thing to consider is laminating one sheet and then using an ultra-fine-point dry erase pen with it. 
• If you’re looking at a doc with a ton of formatting that is making it difficult to print just what you want, I often copy and paste the relevant part to the Windows app “Notepad” to strip it of formatting, and then paste it to Excel or Word and print what I want from there. 
• I print most things in black and white, in draft mode, with the narrowest margins I can get away with — but that’s me. I’ve had bad experiences with double-sided printing with home printers, so I just use the clean sides for scrap paper, daily notes, and more.

Readers, what are your best tips to cut down on printing at home? For those of you who are lawyers or otherwise have privacy/confidentiality concerns, what guidance has your tech support office given you to help you cut down on printing at home?

Stock photo via Deposit Photos / jannystockphoto. 

The post How to Cut Down on Printing at Home appeared first on Corporette.com.

2020 Update: Wondering what are the best secretary gifts? Check out our latest gallery of gift ideas, below. Some great standbys include cash, this cardigan, these earrings, or some of our favorite little purchases that make our life better. 

We still stand by this advice on secretary gifts, but you may also want to check out all of our posts on holiday business etiquette.

What sort of gifts are you getting for your secretary or assistant this year? In our last poll, the majority of people noted that they just gave their assistants and secretaries cash for a holiday present. Still, a small, personalized gift in ADDITION to the cash gift is a nice touch (time and budget permitting, of course) — it shows your assistant you really do care about him or her. So today I thought I’d round up a few small gift ideas to accompany that larger cash gift. (Note that Above the Law‘s discussion on how much to give is more recent than ours — I agree with their New York rule of thumb of taking your seniority and multiplying it by $100, but know your office.)

2021 Updated Secretary Gift Ideas:

1. Flowers are a classic for this kind of gift — not only does it gift your assistant with something nice, but it lets everyone in the office know that you did too. (Better for birthdays, I suppose — it puts everyone on notice that it’s your assistant’s birthday!) I’ve always run to the most local florist, but if I were up for flower delivery, I’d try this new company, The Bouqs. I saw them on Shark Tank, and while (as far as I remember) none of the investors were impressed, I was impressed enough to look them up. Their pitch is $40 flat fee, free delivery, no hidden fees. The flowers are “farm fed by volcanic ice melt and mineral-rich soil,” and you can set up a concierge service to remember your choices (and get a 25% discount). They now send the next day (which I think was the Sharks’ big sticking point; previously you needed to order a lot further in advance.)
2. Know your giftee, but: a luxe version of their favorite snack food can be a great way to show that you’re paying attention and you appreciate them. These double-dipped caramel pretzels look ah-ma-zing, and they’re only $12 today.
3. If your assistant loves her daily cuppa, this tea for one gift set looks amazing — I know it would make me happy every day. I first saw it over at ShopBop‘s gift guide, but C.Wonder has it as part of its sitewide sale for 30% off (bringing it down to $33).
4. This little porcelain tray is only $10, and I love the idea of it near a computer monitor — it’s bright and happy, would be a nice spot to put jewelry that your assistant might take off during the day (earrings on phone calls, for example, or bracelets while typing), or even just a great place to put the myriad things that accumulate on your desk. Note that some letters are back-ordered.
5. A wristlet is always a great gift for an office friend — they can keep their change, lunch discount cards, and a lip gloss in it, and add their credit card, cash, and phone to it when they grab it for their lunch run. I think Fossil makes some of the best budget leather bags and accessories around, and they have a number of cute wristlets — this scarlet one is bright and happy and only $45.
6. I’m kind of in love with this Kate Spade planner — Amazon has a bunch of cute ones.

Readers, what are you getting for your assistant’s holiday present this year? If you’re giving cash, how much (and please note WHERE in the country you are, and if there’s an easy identifier for your kind of office (“BigLaw,” Big Four, Forbes 500 company, whatever), please include that.

The post Gift Guide: Personalized, Small Gifts for Your Assistant or Secretary appeared first on Corporette.com.

Sure, we all know what wardrobe essentials for work professional women are supposed to have in their closets, but if you’re buying one for the first time or replacing one you’ve worn into the ground, it can be a pain to find exactly the right incarnation in stores. In “The Hunt,” we search the stores for a basic item that every woman should have.

Here’s a question we haven’t talked about in far too long: what do you think are the best pants for work? Which ones are your favorites for comfort — for fit — for travel?

There are actually a ton of great options right now — almost all of the ones below are washable, available at least up to size 18, and many are available in petite, tall, and plus sizes as well. Which are your favorite work pants? Do tell…

Psst: check out our latest thoughts on the best trouser lengths for women!

The Best Pants for Work (Latest Favorites!)

The best dress pants for women as of 2024: one / two / three / four / five / six (not pictured but also and also!) — also check out our roundup of the best pull-on pants for the office!

The Best Plus-Size Pants for Work in General

Great Maternity Pants for the Office

Fun Colorful Pants for Work

Hunting for colorful pants for work? They’re very popular everywhere for 2024 — but note that in general brands like Rekucci, Krazy Larry, Banana Republic, Express, J.Crew, and Boden have a ton of options.

If you’re hunting for one that’s under $50, there are a ton of great options, but they are very different. Readers love the comfort of J.Crew Factory’s drapey pull-on (usually around $35 with the sale of the day), while Everlane’s work pant ($50) has a nice, crisp, hold-you-in feeling to the fabric.

Still, if you’re looking for a ton of options in color and fabric sizes, readers swear by the Old Navy Pixie pants, pictured above — they’re around $35 and come in regular, tall, and petite sizes up to size 20; they’re also available in plus sizes.

The Best Ankle Pants for Work Outfits

Another good option that’s often on sale: J.Crew’s Cameron pant, which readers recently noted was a good option for pears (and have pockets).

They’re available at Nordstrom and Net-a-Porter as well as J.Crew, although note that J.Crew has a ton more options and come in sizes up to 24, as well as petite and tall sizes. The pictured ones are a washable option good for four seasons!

The Best Comfortable Work Pants

For just a bit more money puts you in the range of the NYDJ Stretch Knit Trousers, which are my personal favorite for a mix of comfort and polish — I feel more formal with the zipper (unlike some of the pull-on options on this list) and I feel like they wash and wear really well. I also like the thickness of the pants. They’re currently $78-$119; note that they’re almost always on sale in the big Nordstrom sales.

A few other great options around this price point: Brass’s ponte pants are $98 (I’ve heard rave reviews but haven’t tried myself), as well as Nic+Zoe’s Wonderstretch pants (some options as low as $102, but mostly around $148).

The Best Wrinkle-Free Pants for Work

We’ve sung the praises of the pants the readers call “magic pants” before — they’ve noted that they’re “as comfortable as pajama pants,” “like slim cigarette pants that never wrinkle,” and “can be washed in a sink.” They come in plus and petite sizes, and a ton of colors — I personally haven’t seen anything but lucky sizes on sale but that’s me.

They’re $168 new at Nordstrom, Dillards, Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdale’s.

The Best Trouser Pants for Work

If washability isn’t high on your list of needs — or if you’re more looking for suiting separates that have great pants — Boss, Lafayette 148 New York, and Theory are the brands to beat.

Boss’s slightly bootcut trousers get the highest ratings and are around $248, while Theory’s Good Wool trousers still get plenty of shoutouts.

Fun fact: the Good Wool line is ” is spun from sustainably-farmed Australian wool milled at an environmentally-friendly factory” — and I was surprised to notice that Theory now goes up to a size 16.

Social media images: Deposit Photo / LenblR.

Readers, how about you — which do you think are the best pants for work? Which are your favorite styles to wear to work — drapey, slim knit, cropped, or bootcut/voluminous trousers? 

Great Work Pants in Specific Shapes

Our Latest Favorite Bootcut Dress Pants

There are a bunch of great bootcut dress pants — some of our favorites include Good American and the very affordable Tapata brand (with tall, petite, and regular lengths). Alexander McQueen also has a bunch right now. On the more casual side, check out KUT from the Kloth cords, Wit & Wisdom jeans, and Betabrand “dress yoga pants.”

The Classic Ankle Pants for Work

Ankle pants may not be super trendy at the moment, but they can still be a great look — particularly if you like to switch up your shoe heights a lot. As of 2024, longstanding favorites include pants from Eileen Fisher*, J.Crew*, and Theory. For plus sizes check Eloquii as well as the options with asterisks — and on the more casual side, check out Old Navy*, Athleta*, and Everlane*.

Simply Stylish: Straight Pants for Work Outfits

Straight pants can be a bit tricky get the hem correct, and have a slight potential to be frumpy… That said, they are a classic because they tend to be immune from trends. Some great options in 2024 include reader favorites Nic & Zoe pants, NYDJ, J.Crew, these “perfect” pants from Spanx, and the very affordable Amazon seller Tapata (with petite, regular, and tall sizes).

Wide Leg Pants to Wear to Work

Hunting for more wide-leg pants to wear to work? We just rounded some up, and general favorites include pleated pairs like Favorite Daughter, Everlane*, Reformation*, and Abercrombie*, with flat-front pairs from Good American,* M.M.LaFleur, and Ann Taylor. (* = plus sizes; see the post for notes on petites and talls). We’ve also shared our thoughts on what shoes to wear with wide-leg pants! Our latest favorite wide-leg pants include these (as of 2024):

Flared Pants for Work Outfits

Stay tuned for our latest favorite office-appropriate flared pants for women! In general in 2024, check out Spanx, Hugo Boss, Theory, Amazon seller Rekucci, Anthropologie’s Maeve line, and Eloquii.

The post The Hunt: The Best Pants for Work appeared first on Corporette.com.

Here’s something we haven’t talked about in far too long, ladies — which are your top 10 most comfortable heel brands? We last did a roundup of everyone’s favorite brands for comfortable heels maaaany moons ago (2012!) and there have been some changes since… which are your favorites?

While there are definitely well-known comfort brands that are maybe a bit frumpy or funky, I’ve always thought the magic lies in knowing which regular, popular brands are ALSO really comfortable… I’d love to hear your list, ladies!

Here are my top 10 brands for comfortable heels — many of them have been reader favorites for years, but others may be new on your radar…

This post contains affiliate links and Corporette® may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. For more details see here. Thank you so much for your support!

The above photo is a stock photo, but these heels may be similar to the ones pictured: one / two / three / four

10. Affordable Comfortable Heels: Dexflex Comfort

Readers have long sung the praises of this classic comfortable, affordable heel, but the whole line gets good reviews if you’re looking for budget-friendly comfortable heels! Note that Amazon also sometimes carries the line.

Pictured above: one / two / three

9. Widely Available Comfortable Heels: Sam Edelman

Not only does this brand have a great cushioning system, but many colors are available in multiple widths and extended sizes 4-13. Other contenders here: MICHAEL Michael Kors and Calvin Klein.

We’re picturing all of the Sam Edelman heels in black, but you’ll be surprised by how many colors, prints, fabrics and textures they come in… Note that you can find them at Nordstrom, Zappos, Amazon, 6PM, Bloomingdale’s and Lord & Taylor.

Pictured above: one / two / three

8 & 7. Not a Surprise Comfort Heels: Rockport & Clarks

Rockport’s Total Motion line has been a reader favorite for years, particularly because of the cushioning system that used Adidas technology. (Update: Looks like Adidas and Rockport have parted ways  — if you liked the brand in the past, stock up now!)

Rockport, pictured above: one / two / three

Clarks can definitely run on the funky side, but readers have always sworn by the brand for their intense cushioning system, and with the full price being under $125 (and frequent sales!) they’re definitely a great affordable option. A similar brand in this price point but not a lot of heels right now: Vionic.

Clarks, pictured above: one / two / three

6 & 5. Comfortable Heels You Can Buy In a Mall (Tie): Naturalizer & Aerosoles

Don’t discount these brands just because they’re available in a mall — there are great options for style, particularly trendier things. Obviously, both brands are sold at Zappos; Naturalizer is also found at Nordstrom.

Naturalizer’s N5 Contour system is pretty great. They describe shoes with the system as offering extra cushioning, a breathable lining, balanced heel to toe, and flexible soles, and note that they are made with lightweight but durable materials.

Naturalizer, pictured above: one / two / three

The Aerosoles wedge pictured below (#2) is a best seller at Zappos and occasionally comes in fun prints; for example right now you can get a black leather upper with a leopard wedge.

Aerosoles, pictured above: one / two / three

4 & 3. Stylish Heels You Didn’t Know Were Comfortable: (Tie) 1.State and Franco Sarto

Franco Sarto is old on the scene, whereas 1.State is relatively new — still, both brands are worth checking out if you want things that are a bit more on the trendy, stylish side. Another brand to keep an eye on: Marc Fisher LTD — in particular, their block heel pump is hugely popular right now.

Franco Sarto, pictured above: one / two / three

1.State, pictured above: one / two / three

2. OG Comfortable Heel: Cole Haan

Cole Haan Air was, for many years, the default comfortable heel for women getting started. It was a collaboration with Nike Air! The shoes were mostly affordable (generally under $300!) and super stylish! There have been some fits and starts in the years since the collaboration ended but they’re still going strong. Their bow pumps are still some of the brand’s best-sellers (there’s a waterproof version now 60% off at Nordstrom!), and while Nordstrom doesn’t carry their classic 75mm heel anymore, Zappos does. The shoes pictured below are all under $200.

Cole Haan, pictured above: one / two / three

1. Splurge-Worthy Comfortable Heels: Salvatore Ferragamo

If you’re looking for a brand with extended sizes and widths, AND open to splurging on a heel that’s $500-$700 — it’s hard to find a more reliable “fancy comfortable heel.” Readers were just talking about how most female law partners they know wear Varas (pictured below) — and there are always seasonal colors and prints or sculptural heels if you want a bit more “fashion cred.” We haven’t updated our guide to designer shoes in a long while, but other brands on my radar for comfortable heels in this price range include Jimmy Choo, Miu Miu, and Aquazzura.

Pictured above: one / two / three

How about you, readers? What are your top 10 most comfortable heel brands? Which ones do you swear by for style AND comfort, and which ones are just so comfortable that you’re willing to sacrifice style (and maybe use them for commuting shoes)?

Stock photo credit: Fotolia / blacksalmon. 

This post contains affiliate links and Corporette® may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. For more details see here. Thank you so much for your support!

The post The Top 10 Most Comfortable Heel Brands appeared first on Corporette.com.