3 Top Tips to Choosing Shoes to Flatter a Thick Ankle

Recently I’ve had two readers ask me to write about how to flatter thicker ankles:

Sometime it would be great if you could address ‘thick ankles’. They were the bane of my mother’s existence and sometimes I think they are of mine as well. They are why (along with horrible English weather) I almost always choose pants instead of skirts, boots instead of shoes. I can’t be the only person in the world with this trait!

and

First, absolutely love your blog. Just found it about a week ago, and every spare minute you will finding me reading it …to has so many wonderful tips and suggestions.
Second, I think I have identified my body type an 8 shape. I am a size 16, so have many lumps and bumps….but my main issue is my thick ankles. Cannot find an article talking about shoes for thick legs….think tree stumps. Do you have any suggestions for larger women?
Thanks, and know you have a new avid reader.

It can be a difficult issue as unless you want to wear full length trousers all the time, then they are exposed to the world. With a full length trouser you can wear whatever shoe you like! But how about dressing in skirts and dresses or cropped pants or shorts?

Here are my three top tips.

1. You want to think about the concept of scale.

Scale and how if you want to make something appear smaller, you put something larger near it. Therefore, when thinking about shoes instead of fine straps, heels and soles, you want thicker straps, heels and soles to balance your ankle and make it look slimmer.

2. Consider the influence of line and how we read them.

Horizontal lines broaden, so we want to keep horizontals away from thicker ankles (remember it’s just like belting, don’t put a belt on a wide point unless you want to make it look wider as it will just further broaden the are). So no ankle straps or horizontal straps on shoes up near the ankle. Diagonals move the eye and if they are more vertical in appearance can also make your foot look slimmer.

3. Let’s look at vamp.

That is how far the shoe comes up and covers your foot. A low vamp makes the whole leg look longer, and doesn’t draw attention to ankles. Low vamp shoes are great to wear with skirts and dresses as the make the legs look longer (and so the ankle slimmer). Don’t forget to consider colour, a nude shoe that a shoes that blends with your skin won’t draw attention in the way a shoe in a contrasting colour will create a feature of your feet and ankles. Blend shoes to pants and hosiery for the the most slimming appearance. Remember that knee high boots are also considered to be a low vamp shoe because the leg appears to start from the toe, as the colour is uninterrupted. Win!

So let’s put it all together in some outfits.

Yes you can wear pants or maxi dresses all the time, but that would be boring and restrictive. So here are some ideas for how to make your feet and ankles less of a focus and using the tools we have already gone over in this blog post, the illusion of a slimmer ankle.

 

You may also find this post on flattering curvy calves useful.