When a client asks me what to wear with yellow shoes, I always exclaim, “So much!” Yellow shoes are super versatile! As you’ll see in the photos below, there are a LOT of different ways to style yellow shoes. In fact, I consider yellow shoes a summer neutral shoe. They are a basic I add to most clients’ summer shopping lists when we are revamping their shoe collection during a warm season.
Yellow is also one of those colors that a lot of people are hesitant to wear because they think it doesn’t go with their skin tone. Whenever a client is hesitant to wear a color next to their face, I always suggest integrating it into their outfit below the waist, via shoes, a belt, pants, or a skirt. Which is another reason why yellow shoes are such a great way for anyone to easily add this happy color to their wardrobe. (Though as I explain in my post, Can I Wear Yellow?, truly anyone can wear yellow above the waist, as long as they find the right shade for them.)
What To Wear With Yellow Shoes: The Colors
As always, the colors you pair together depend on their saturation. A more muted yellow pairs best with more muted and earthier tones, while a bright yellow needs to go with brighter colors, and a pastel yellow goes beautifully with other pastels. With that said, here are the colors that pair best with yellow…
- All greens
- Most blues
- Bright red
- White/off-white
- Deep purple/plum
- Most browns
What To Wear With Yellow Shoes: The Garments
The style of yellow shoe dictates the type of garments you wear with it, but my favorite yellow shoe to wear is a flat yellow sandal, or an open-toe block heel shoe. Both of these look fabulous with dresses and denim looks, as you can tell! My yellow Rothy’s flats have also been a go-to for pairing with denim outfits.
Here are some of my favorite yellow shoes available right now to wear with dresses and denim:
- Bellini Yellow Braided Sandal ($70)
- Nordstrom Naiomi Ankle Strap Sandal ($80)
- Stuart Weitzman Nudist Block Heel Sandal ($450)
What To Wear With Yellow Shoes: The Jewelry
When deciding what to wear with yellow shoes, choosing the right jewelry can be the trickiest part. Here are my favorite jewelry pieces to wear with yellow shoes:
- White jewelry
- Yellow jewelry
- Acrylic
- Wood
- Paper
- Leather
- Cloth
- Mixed Metal
What To Wear With Yellow Shoes To Work
Yellow shoes can definitely go to work, but you want to choose the right shoe for the job. A yellow pump or loafer is not au courant, but I love a yellow flat as you can see above in the picture of me at my workplace – on set as a wardrobe stylist! Notice too that yellow shoes looks great with denim, and these days, most of my clients can wear jeans to work.
A yellow sandal can also be worn at work if your office dress code allows open toe shoes. Just pair your yellow shoes with a business casual dress (or separates – see below) in bright red, white/off-white, navy, green, deep purple/plum, or brown.
What To Wear With Yellow Shoes: The No-Nos
Yellow is a really hard color to match, so don’t put two different shades of yellow next to each other. This is a general rule for color pairing, but it is especially important with the color yellow. You can do a slightly different yellow with another yellow if they are far enough away from each other, as you can see in my business casual look above.
Bonus No-no: I like to avoid too much black and bright yellow to avoid looking like a bumble bee.
Yellow Shoe Outfits
As I mentioned in the intro, yellow shoes are incredibly versatile! Still skeptical? Below are some more examples of yellow shoe outfits I’ve worn over the years…
These pastel yellow sandals complement the pastel colors and pale yellow in this maxi dress. I also opted for earrings with yellow in them.
Remember: when pairing colors pay attention to the saturation. In this case, since these neon yellow sandals are so bright, I paired them with a bright cerulean blue dress. A more muted blue or pastel blue would not have worked with these shoes.
For this outfit, the yellow of the shoes matches the yellow flowers on the dress perfectly, so they pair nicely together.
I wore this rainbow Mumu for the San Diego Pride Parade. In this case, the yellow in the shoes isn’t an exact match with the yellow in the dress, but they’re far enough apart that it still works. And the earrings have both shades of yellow in them to tie it all together.
This outfit shows that green and yellow truly do always look good together. I opted for earrings with yellow in them again to bring out the yellow shoes.
Here’s an example of a yellow shoes outfit with a bright red dress. In this case, the dress did have yellow in the pattern, but I’ve also worn these same shoes with a white and red dress.
Here’s another example of a yellow shoes outfit with pastels. Sure, you could wear white sandals with this dress. But a yellow sandal makes this outfit so much more interesting. I chose earrings with yellow in them to bring it all together.
