Dune ‘Hercules’ nautical sandals, £89
I do love a bit of red, white and blue in the summertime: it’s such a classic look, not to mention being one which is really easy to wear, given all of the similarly nautically-inspired clothes that are around at this time of year!These sandals are by Dune, and apply that nautical colour scheme to a strappy summer sandal. The double strap across the toes, and the matching straps at the heel, have an almost rope-like appearance, which all adds to the sailboat-style – not that I’d advocate wearing those heels on an ACTUAL sailboat, obviously! Luckily, however, there will be no shortage of places you CAN wear these: they’re the kind of shoes that will add interest to a plain dress or pair of jeans, and which could look dressed-up or dressed-down, depending on what you wear with them. Which brings me to the question:
What to wear with nautical sandals?
Dressed-up OR dressed-down, you say? Well, you COULD choose between the two, or you could go for a combination of both, as I’ve done here:
Nautical summer smart/casual outfit:
jeans // t-shirt // belt // blazer // bag
The jeans and t-shirt on their own are very casual (and probably more than cool enough for a UK summer’s day!), but add the blazer and clutch for evening and you have a much smarter look (and one which I fully intend to replicate one of these days. I think I have everything but the shoes: hmmmm…). I’m a big fan of clutch bags for daytime (Thank you, Carrie Bradshaw), and find them a really easy way to instantly glam-up a casual outfit, but if you want to dress this one down (or just have far too much stuff to fit inside a clutch bag), replace the clutch with a slouchy shoulder bag and the blazer with a cardigan or sweater: done!
I don’t know if I like these or not. I need to see them on a foot, I think.