B Brian Atwood ‘Leigha‘, $325

These shoes take me right back to the summer of 2011 (not that 2011 is a particularly long time ago, mind you!), when almost every shoe available could have the word “colourblock” used to describe it. The look is’t quite as ubiquitous as it once was, but it still crops every now and then, particularly in the spring/summer season, when people start to crave bright, cheerful colours, and the more of them, the merrier.

Well, these B Brian Atwood sandals definitely take a “the more, the merrier” approach to colour. Actually, they only use three different colours – green, purple and orange – but somehow it looks like a lot more than that at first glance, and I’m glad the design itself is so minimal: this particular colour combination could really start to hurt the eyes if used over a larger area.

When it comes to deciding what to wear with colourblock sandals, you have three main options:

1. Wear them with a very neutral shade, like black, white, grey etc, which won’t compete or clash with the colours in the shoe.

2. Choose another colour to add to the mix – ideally one which compliments the colours already in the shoe. (I recommend this option only for those of you who have a lot of confidence in your colour mixing, or who don’t mind being stared at a lot when you’re out in public!)

3. Pick out one of the colours in the shoe, and base your outfit around that.

My preference would probably be for option one, because I don’t really like wearing head-to-toe brights, but for this look I decided to go for a combination of options 2 and 3: the skirt is a shade of the purple found in the shoes, while the pink cardigan adds a forth colour to the look, but one that isn’t too bright or out of place:

What to wear with colourblock sandals:

cardigan // skirt // bag // nail polish // lipstick

Despite the colours, however, I’m not venturing too far out of my comfort zone with this one: it IS still a full skirt and a cropped cardigan, after all!