Kate Spade ‘Candy’ ($550) and Pietra ($358)

I couldn’t decide which of these two pairs of stripey Kate Spade pumps to show you today, so I figured I’d just show you them both. You can never have too many stripes in your life, can you?

First up ,we have the ‘Candy’ slingbacks shown at the top of the page. These pack a lot of detail into one little package: there’s the striped upper, of course, but there’s also the corrugated edges, the bright pink heel/toe, the turquoise insole, the candy-wrapper style bow… As I said, lots of detail, but somehow it all comes together in one, perfect package: I really love the shape of the slingback, and think these would as much fun to wear as they are to look at, with the black and white upper working well with so many other colours.

Then there’s ‘Pietra’, at the bottom of the page. A more classically styled post, these are anything but boring, with the same stripe upper, and the same pink/turquoise detailing. The bow is smaller, and the heel slightly shorter (3.5″ to the 4″ on the ‘Candy’ shoes), but they have the same, whimsical vibe, and air of general cute-ness.

What to wear with stripe shoes?

Although I like both of these styles, if I had to choose one, I’d probably go for the ‘Candy’ slingbacks, as I like the higher heel and bigger bow. When styling these, my instinct was to pick up on the pink from the heel, but I suppressed that instinct (OK, I DID allow myself a touch of pink with the handbag, but that totally doesn’t count…) and went for turquoise instead: you wouldn’t actually see the turquoise insoles when these shoes were on, but its presence illustrates how well it works against the other colours in the shoes. The end result is a lot more colourful than I’d wear in real life, but change the bag and glasses for something more neural and it should be pretty easy to wear:

what to wear with stripe shoes