What shoes and do I wear tights with midi dresses right now

[PushthechocolateButton]

I followed the herd and worn white trainers with midi dresses last summer but what about now?
I’ve got a couple of smart dinners to go to, got the dress but bare legs will be cold and trainers look a bit off.
Please don’t say ankle boots, I tried and it’s too try hard for my 50 year old staid look.
Loafers look like school shoes, heels look dated and my shoe boots look ridiculous.

In the tan, urgh the link goes to the shiny nude, not those

I'm the same. I've got skirts I don't wear because I don't know what shoes to wear.

I like shoes that are neat and pretty so for dressy/ evening / not cold weather I would wear low to mid heel courts or a ballerina flat. In winter a flat lace up boot. I have Lanx and Joseph Cheaney and proper lace up - not fake with side zips. Never trainers, although would wear a canvas sneaker in summer.

No doubt that will provoke shrieks of "dated" but it's clear that ",dated" gets trotted out here with no basis at all.

Fortunately Neither LK Bennet not Pretty Ballerina (not for that matter Vogue) employ MN style gurus and sell the same style of shoe consistently.

www.lkbennett.com/Shoes/Court-Shoes?standard-heel_height=low-heel&standard-heel_height=mid-heel

www.prettyballerinas.co.uk/67-ballerinas

The platform sandals linked are hideous. That sort of shoe was hideous when I was a teenager in the 70s and haven't improved with age. Loafers look weird with dresses.

The last dress I bought was this
eponinelondon.com/collections/aw22-ready-to-wear/products/queen-mab?variant=43498022863070

which I wear with a black Hobbs shoes with a pink bow trim with the same heel height as the model's. They must be at least 15 years old and no doubt "dated" but the designer behind Eponine is obviously happy to pair her dresses with high court's ( as does Kate Windsor when she wears Eponine)

I don't understand the angst about tights - black, navy and coloured opaques in high denier in the cold. 10 or 15 black, almost black, skin colour when it's not, no tights when it's really hot.

Suede knee high boots with chunky heel

flat chunky biker boots

my beloved esska sandals

I struggle with dresses and footwear in the winter. I wear nude fishnets or opaques usually but any sort of heel renders me unable to walk and going out in London invariably involves a fair bit of walking.

I’ve defaulted to these all winter.

www.marksandspencer.com/ie/suede-chelsea-chunky-block-heel-boots/p/clp60549181

I agree with this. I think we're in a tricky time of year for midi dresses and the only way to get through it and be warm enough is to have boots that disappear under them. I'm not averse to flesh colour tights but it doesn't feel warm enough for that yet either.

That's a lovely dress.

I have These moshulu biambi in several colours. They're pricey atm. Which means they'll go into sale soon hopefully. I paid around £60 for mine. They're very comfortable and quite smart.
I have a refer a friend code if you ever need you can pm for it.

Same here. Its either tights and docs (prefer these) or heeled ankle/knee boots (if more formal). I'm always having to search Google outfits and try things on and I tend to dither.

I like block heeled suede ankle boots with midi dresses. Or lace up flat boots. Or nude fishnets and trainers. Or occasionally black fishnets and trainers but this is harder to pull off.

I wear my midi-dresses with knee high boots (as a PP said, they need to come under the hem of the dress so there's no break in the line).

Knee highs are definitely not dated - they're very current!

@NatashaDancing it's lucky that it takes all sorts so isn't it as I think court shoes worn as you've shown them are 'hideous' and all the more so with flesh coloured tights.

I'll stick to my 'hideous' sandals, thanks

OP that is a particularly difficult style / length dress to get right and even the model can't make it work in that photo!

Knee high boots are definitely back now.

@NatashaDancing i do still love that look too and really I think it’s classic, not dated. Those kind of court shoes might look a bit much for work now (a shame, as I have a shelf full of them!) but not for eveningwear, especially in a colour I think.

It isn't a difficult style. It's a style 1000's of women wear with varieties of shoe and boot styles and heel heights. The angst about it and tights seems to exist only on MN but given the number of posters on this thread authoritatively proclaiming knee boots are dated and the numbers equally authoritatively saying , no they aren't, I'm not inclined to attach much weight to the wearing tights angst either. Tights generally look better than bare legs in most situations anyway.

I'm not sure which model you are referring to as several have been posted. If it's the Eponine dress, the model looks fabulous - the other pictures posted are fine too.

I wear low heeled LKB courts to work.

Did knee boots ever go away? I currently don't have a pair and have several pairs of laced ankle boots and and 3 pairs of over the knee boots but that's by accident (last pair of knee boots finally wore out and I don't need more boots).

I have a pair of black patent LKB courts bought about 10 years ago for 2 weddings which have outlasted both marriages.

I like the canvas pumps on that site.

Knee boots probably went quiet for a bit but I've noticed this year all sorts of boots are doing the rounds from ankle to knee high. I like a western style mid calf boot and I guess a few years ago they may have looked a bit 70s with a dress but now they are everywhere. I think that anything can look good with a bit of trial and error.

The OP's dress that was posted (sort of coral colour) - the issue is not the length or style but it's wearing that colour when it is so grey out. I'm sure there's a way of wintering it a bit but I suspect only to make it more casual. I think I'd leave it in the wardrobe for another month or so.

I'd wear it now with brown flat laced boots or red or navy pumps, either round toed or pointy, completely flat or a low block, but not too blocky heel, with flesh coloured tights. A more delicate court might make it too summery.

Brown boots would be good. I am just constantly cold so I look at dresses like that and think f* that, I'd rather wear a jumper 😅

I wear mine with black tights and black suede boots

If the dress isn't tight an M& S sleeved thermal top bought 2 sizes smaller than your size, so it fits snugly under the dress, and then a jacket or cardigan on top.

If dress has 3/4 length sleeves or longer the sleeves of the thermal top look ok without a jacket on top.

How about tan or even nude brogues?

Also not all loafers are created equal. If you don't like chunky, or school girl type loafers, there are Slim suede ones, again in nude neutral colours or fun jewel colours, check out Bobbies for example.

Don't agree with posters saying knee highs are dated. They're very in actually, look amazing in reinvented 70s styles a la sezane.

Are heels out now?

Good point about Sezanne. It's very popular round these parts. It has loads of dresses paired with knee boots.