Since knee surgery and changes it has made, for whatever reason, I find I can no longer keep a lot of my low vamp shoes, particularly flats, on my feet. I walk right out of one or both at the most inopportune times – like when crossing the street. I’ve been forced to have to get shoes with a strap across vamp to compensate. How do I get the “low vamp” look ?
I received this question after writing this post all about what is shoe vamp and why it matters – which you can read here.
It’s not too hard to fake a low vamp shoe if you are forced to wear high vamp shoes. Here are my 4 top tips to help you on your fakery way. 
- Choose a colour that blends with your skin. Your nude colour will make the straps much less obvious and won’t draw attention to themselves.
- Even if the shoes are coloured, look for shoes with a ‘nude’ strap so that it’s not the feature of the shoe. These green shoes from Zappos also come in black and red as well as the green, all with the nude strap, and the burgundy Kate Spade shoes also come in a black option with the nude straps.
- Diagonal straps are much more flattering than horizontal ones, so look for shoes like these ones from Clarks that have diagonal straps (and by the way they come in multiple colours but the straps are all nude).
- Alternatively, go for a knee high boot – which is actually classed as a nude shoe!
Thanks for this Imogen, I also was looking for solutions to this!
In cooler climates when wearing socks or hosiery, then blending them with the shoes and hemline also helps – e.g. navy brogues, navy socks, navy trousers or brown shoes, brown tights, brown skirt.
Yes – that’s the easy way. It’s summer when it’s often much harder to accomplish as we don’t wear the tights.
Oh and with trousers – high vamp shoes work completely fine! It’s the skirts and dresses that create more of an issue.
Thanks for this. I’m going to try the Clarks as I need new neutral shoes for Fall.
I hope they’re a good fit!
A question about low vamp shoes – How would you deal with “colored” Tights if you need neutral high vamp shoes and want to pair them with longer skirts during Summer?
I’ve similare dilemma as the asker, but that I wear tights in summer as well unless it’s below 20’C/70’F which is more common in nordic summers. I mostly wear black FLEECE lined Tights all year round (!!) because they go with all of my dark colored shoes but when it comes to brights and earthy colors, this often an dilemma with longer Skirts/Shorts. A Khaki knee lenght skirt with bright tights (Iike red) looks sometimes a bit strange with black ankle boots. I don’t wear red shoes and a bit sceptical about thick skin-colored opaque tights. .. like, would nude shoes look funny with red tights?
Err. Might go bare legged if it’s ABOVE 70’C (20’C) I mean.
You can create a column of colour with your tights – so try a brown tight with brown boots. Or wear a nude tight with your shoes.
I think I was the one who asked this question originally, Imogen, and I so appreciate this wonderful answer to it. I found the beige skin-toned flats with a diagonal strap (Trotter’s) – comfortable, also. And they have in 2 different tones of beige. Now to hunt down knee length beige boots to wear with skirts this fall/winter. Finally after losing some weight I’m able to get into skirts I haven’t worn for 5-6 years (yes, I’ve checked and they’re still in style, and I’ve only kept the ones that go with my colors =) !). Again, thanks for your so helpful answer to my question.
My pleasure Rita – and I found this year beige boots very hard to come by in my searching for them! I got some but they are not as light as I’d like. Let me know if you find any.
I have a job that requires moving quickly in high heel shoes. I love that I can always find sandals that fit and stay on, and knee high, high heeled boots work fantastically. My problem is finding closed toe shoes to wear with pants when it’s too cold for sandals (luckily only about 4 months out of the year for me.) I recently found some low vamp, high heels, with small straps across the top of my foot- far enough from my ankles that they don’t cut me off with a skirt but perfect for boot cut and wider leg pants. Aerosoles has some comfortable ones.
What colors would work for a “nude” color other than beige for a pale-skinned girl? Would silver or gold sandals or a light metallic straps on strappy sandals work to create the look of a low vamp? Thanks!!
Jenny – any sort of colour that doesn’t stand out from your feet will work as a “nude”